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UPDATE (1:30 p.m.): Sarah Elizabeth Jones, 27, has been identified by the Wayne County Sheriff's Department as the person killed in Thursday afternoon's train accident on the set of the Gregg Allman biographical film Midnight Rider.

A resident of Atlanta, Jones was the Second Camera Assistant on the film, which is being produced by Los Angeles-based Unclaimed Freight Productions.

Randall Miller, the writer, producer and director of the biopic, was among the 20 crew members on a train trestle over the Altamaha River – near the Doctortown Road crossing - when they were struck by a northbound freight train.

They were in the process of laying a “bed” on the train tracks, for a dream sequence in the film, when the CSX train arrived unexpectedly and was unable to stop.

Eight people were injured, one fatally. Miller was pulled to safety by another member of the crew. The prop bed exploded.

It is not known if the film’s stars, including William Hurt and Tyson Ritter, were involved in the filming Thursday.

According to Det. Joe Gardner of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Unclaimed Freight had permission from CSX to film at the location. They had been provided with the existing train schedule.

In a statement, the film company said “All of us on the production team are devastated by the tragic accident that happened today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of our crew member.”

CSX also released a statement: "CSX is deeply saddened by a tragedy that occurred late today on a CSX rail bridge in Doctortown, Ga. and is cooperating fully with authorities as they investigate. Initial reports indicate that at least three people were injured, one fatally. CSX personnel are working with first responders to meet the needs of those injured. A train was en route from Memphis to Savannah when the incident occurred."

Variety is reporting that a female member of the "Midnight Rider" movie crew was killed Thursday afternoon in Wayne County. Three people were on the train trestle, over the Altamaha River, when they were struck by a freight train.

John Carter of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Departmen said that one injured woman was airlifted to Savannah’s Memorial Health University Medical Center. Two people were taken by ambulance to a local hospital, Wayne Memorial Hospital in Jesup.

UPDATE (from Variety, 12:42 a.m.): The crew, including director Randall Miller, had placed a bed on the tracks for a dream sequence and was expecting two trains on the local bridge, one in each direction, when a third train arrived unexpectedly.

A whistle warned the crew members of the next train, giving them less than a minute, which was too late.

Miller and the still photographer rushed to get the bed off the tracks while the rest of the crew tried to get off the bridge on a plank walk-way. They were still trying to get off the bridge when the train arrived.The second camera assistant was then struck and killed by the train.

Miller had fallen onto the tracks before the train arrived but the still photographer pulled him off, according to the witness, saving his life. The bed was then hit by the train and exploded. That debris hit and injured several people, including one seriously, who was airlifted to Savannah’s Memorial Health University Medical Center.

A costume designer also suffered injuries during the accident and was admitted to the hospital while at least two other people from the crew, none seriously injured, were awaiting treatment in the emergency room at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Jesup, Ga.

More on this as information comes in.

Two of three stolen cars have been recovered and five men have been arrested after the burglary of a Southside automobile dealership late Monday night.

Officers were called to Volvo of Savannah on the 8300 block of White Bluff Road about 11:38 p.m. after employees discovered the burglary. Taken were three customer-owned vehicles.

Nakeem Squila Antonio Sams, 19, of the 1500 block of East 52nd Street, was apprehended quickly in a foot pursuit by Central Precinct Patrol officers after he wrecked a 1995 Buick LaCrosse on the 100 block of East 64th Street.

Sams first identified himself as someone else before officers determined his true identity. He has been charged with theft by receiving stolen property, obstruction and providing a false name/address to police.

Four other men were arrested in foot pursuits after officers of the Central and Southside Precincts followed a stolen Volvo carrying three of them to Seiler and Waters avenues about noon Tuesday. The fourth arrestee was outside the car talking to the occupants and fled as well.

Police also discovered three weapons and illegal drugs along the routes the suspects ran and drugs on one of the suspects.

Arrested were Dominic Manwell Williams, 21; Jaquease Lamont Dunn, 19; and Raheen Yusell Kirkland, 18. Williams was charged with obstruction, Dunn with theft by receiving stolen property and Kirkland with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of tools to commit a crime and obstruction.

Hakeen Anthony Kelsey, 20, was standing outside the car. Police found he was wanted on forgery charges and charged him with obstruction as well.

Still missing is a gray 2007 Audi Q7 SUV.

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., will host a town hall meeting in Savannah, Ga., on Friday, Feb. 21. Isakson will give a brief update from Washington, D.C., and then will spend the rest of the hour taking questions from constituents. The public is invited to attend.

The meeting is at Armstrong Atlantic State University's Armstrong Center, 13040 Abercorn Street from 2 —3 p.m. Feb. 21.

A young North Atlantic right whale is swimming easier after wildlife biologists cut away most of the 100-plus yards of heavy fishing rope the animal was dragging, says a Ga. Department of Natural Resources spokesman.

The disentanglement effort, much of which occurred 40 miles off Georgia’s Wolf Island Monday, "was relatively quick for the 4-year-old male whale, one of only about 450 remaining North Atlantic right whales."

Directed to the whale by an aerial survey team and a satellite tracking buoy monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), authorized staff with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission assessed the entanglement and threw a device called a cutting grapple across the trailing rope. Soon, the thick rope parted.

"But responders could not remove all of the rope because the whale avoided the boats and because the rope is likely entangled in its baleen," the filter-feeding structures inside the mouths of baleen whales.

Researchers hope the whale known as No. 4057 will shed the rest of the rope on its own. "Responders won’t know No. 4057’s fate until, or unless, he is seen again."

More than 80 percent of North Atlantic right whales bear scars from rope entanglements, and almost 60 percent have been entangled twice.

Members of the public are encouraged to join City Council and Mayor Edna Jackson as the Mayor gives the annual State of the City address at 7 pm. Tuesday, Feb. 18, in the 3rd Floor Ballroom of the Savannah Civic Center.

Two homeless men died Friday night when the pickup truck they were in flipped over into a water-filled canal under the Louisville Road entrance ramp to the US 17 highway overpass in west Savannah.

Joseph Benjaman Webb Jr., 46, and a 64-year-old companion died in the truck "that had turned over in several feet of water near a homeless camp beneath the overpass," a police spokesman says. The name of the other victim has been withheld pending family notification.

The two men were in a Toyota pickup truck that "Webb attempted to back down a rugged access path beside the canal when the wheels on the driver’s side of the truck rolled over the side of the canal and the truck overturned." The two men were unable to exit the vehicle.

Officers of the Major Accident Investigation Team continue to investigate and to search for family members of the second victim.

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One Savannah man has died and a second has been charged with felony murder after an early morning shooting in east Savannah today.

Fashad Kennedy, 20, of the 1300 block of East 60th Street was arrested by Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police detectives after the 2:14 a.m. shooting near the east end of Hawaii Avenue.

Rashaad Spann, 20, of the 100 block of Darling Street died at Memorial University Medical Center where he was transported after Islands Precinct officers responding to a shooting call found him wounded in a car.

Detectives continue to investigate.

Chatham Emergency Management Agency continues to monitor the approaching winter weather. The National Weather Service forecast up to 1.25 inches of rain for Chatham County today through tonight.

Tonight beginning at 10 p.m. through 7 a.m. Thursday, "the freeze line approaches west Chatham and it’s likely the Port Wentworth area will be affected. Bridges and overpasses in extreme northwest Chatham could freeze," a CEMA spokesperson says.

CEMA encourages residents to pay attention to changing weather conditions and put winter weather safety measures in place. Temperatures are expected to reach the low 40s on Thursday.

"In anticipation of freezing rain conditions that will impact many Chatham County roadways during the morning hours" of February 13, all Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools and Administrative Offices will operate on a 2-hour delay Thursday.

This excludes all Custodial, Maintenance, and Campus Police personnel who will report as directed. All School Nutrition staff will report to assigned sites by 9 am. Morning services offered through the YMCA of Coastal Georgia's Pryme Tyme Program at SCCPSS school sites will be cancelled.