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Gay ‘Survivor’ contestant dies in Alabama railway accident

Gay ‘Survivor’ contestant dies in Alabama railway accident
Caleb Bankston (right)  with his fiance
Caleb Bankston (right) with his fiancé Colton Cumbie. CBS

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Caleb Bankston, a former contestant on the “Survivor” reality show, has died in a railway accident in Alabama. He was 27.

Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Bill Yates says Bankston, who was working at the Alabama Warrior Railway in Birmingham, was thrown from a train in a partial derailment on June 24.

The Alabama Warrior Railway, only a few miles long, is used by industries in Birmingham to haul coal and other materials.

Bankston, of Collinsville, Alabama, appeared on “Survivor: Blood vs. Water” in 2013 with his fiancé Colton Cumbie, according to the show’s website.

Officials from Pittsburgh, Kansas-based transportation firm Watco Companies, which owns the railway, said Bankston’s co-workers were being offered counseling.

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