Texan Cut in Half by Train Calmly Calls 911: “I Think I’m Cut in Two”

“Hurry up, ma’am, because I’m about to pass out.”

It’s hard to imagine staying calm while realizing your body’s been split in half — but that’s exactly what 36-year-old rail worker Truman Duncan did on a scorching June afternoon in Cleburne, Texas.

“I need 911. I think I’m cut in two,” he told the dispatcher in a chillingly steady voice. “I guess I’m going into shock. Hurry up, ma’am, because I’m about to pass out.”

It happened on June 25, 2006, when Duncan — a third-generation rail worker and father of three — was coupling cars together at Gunderson Southwest Rail Services. In a split second, a 20,000-pound railcar jerked forward. He slipped and was pulled under the wheels.

Dragged 75 feet along the tracks, Duncan was literally torn in half above the pelvis. “I felt my hip… and there it was gone,” he later recalled. Miraculously, his cellphone, still clipped to his belt, survived the crush — and that tiny piece of luck saved his life.

With half his body missing and a train still on top of him, Duncan made what’s now considered one of the most shocking and heroic 911 calls ever recorded. Then, while lying in the gravel, he used what little time he thought he had left to call his 19-year-old son, Trey.

“I told him I loved him with all my heart,” Trey later said. “He was the best dad I could wish for.”

It took 45 agonizing minutes for first responders to reach him — and somehow, he was still alive.

Doctors later said the same force that cut him in half might have saved his life — the train’s crushing weight may have acted as a natural tourniquet, keeping his blood pressure just high enough to survive.

“When I first heard the report,” said ER surgeon Dr. David Smith, “I thought for sure I’d be going down to pronounce somebody dead.”

Instead, Duncan stunned everyone. He underwent 23 surgeries, lost both legs, his pelvis, and a kidney — but never lost his will to live.

“I wanted to see my babies grow up,” he said later. “I just wanted to live so I could see my kids grow up.”

After months in recovery, Duncan returned to work and began helping wounded soldiers adjust to life after limb loss. His story became an inspiration for trauma survivors around the world.

“Pain is temporary,” he told a reporter years later. “But what keeps you going — your family, your drive — that’s forever.”

Now semi-retired, Duncan continues to mentor young rail workers and share his message of resilience — proof that even when life literally cuts you in half, the human spirit refuses to break.