BIRDSEYE, Ind. (AP) – Authorities say a freight train struck and killed a man a few blocks from his home in a small southwestern Indiana town.

The Dubois County Sheriff's Department says the train hit 44-old-year Dwight Ellis in the town of Birdseye late Tuesday.

The Herald of Jasper reports deputies found Ellis at the scene after the train crew reported the collision in the town about 50 miles northeast of Evansville. He was pronounced dead at a Jasper hospital.

Ellis was hit near a tavern in the town, and the sheriff's department says alcohol was believed to have played a role in the death.