Rev. and Mrs. Fanley Thomas of Mamou were killed when their car was hit by a train Sunday morning as they were driving to their church where he was a pastor.

The Thomases were just yards from their church at LeMoyen when their car was struck at a grade crossing and burst into flames.

Thomas was an associated pastor at St. Paul Baptist Church in Mamou before being called to the pulpit at St. James Baptist Church in LeMoyen.

He and his wife, Florence Marie Collins Thomas, were enroute to prepare for Sunday services at the church when the accident occurred. They were both 59.

Even before the victims were officially identified, a crowd of St. James Baptist Church congregation members, who had gathered at the scene of the accident, knew that their pastor and his wife had been the occupants of the car.

Many of the congregation live almost within walking distance of the church and heard the grinding noise as the train struck the car. The crossing view is unobstructed.

One church member described the pastor as a man who would do anything for anyone and his wife as a soft-spoken Christian woman.

The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office received the call shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday, notifying them that a vehicle had been struck by a train at a crossing on U.S. Highway 71 in north St. Landry Parish

Sheriff's office spokesman Jimmy Darbonne said Thomas and his wife were killed instantly.