A teenage boy in Marysville, Calif. died Friday night after trying to save his girlfriend from an oncoming train.

Mateus Moore and Mickayla Friend, both 16, were on their way to school dance Friday when they were hit by an oncoming Union Pacific train around 7 p.m. Moore was able to push Friend out of the way at the last minute before being dragged under the train, the New York Daily News reports.

Friend was airlifted to Sutter Roseville Hospital, where she remains in critical condition. Moore was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.

It is not yet clear why the couple did not hear the train's warning horn as it approached.

The family of Friend said she and Moore were planning to attend a Sadie Hawkins Day dance at their high school when the train hit.

The train approached them in the same direction they were walking and were unable to move out of the way in time, TV station KCRA reports.

"It's her first boyfriend and her first love," Alithya Friend, Mickayla's sister, told the station. "And she just got it taken away from her in an instant."

Authorities state that the conductor blew the horn and activated the emergency brakes, but the train could not stop in time.

"You can't imagine getting the worst call in your life, knowing that you just dropped your sister off to go to a dance that was supposed to be a special, amazing night for her and her boyfriend of a year," Alithya Friend said. "And then you get a call that says he's deceased and she's in critical condition."

The accident occurred near a populated park, and many rushed over to try and save the teens.

"The engineer was on the horn. ... Then finally, they both looked back at the same time," witness Sean Stark told the station. "They would have both been underneath that train if he didn't push her out of the way at the last second."

"When the train was on the other side of the trestle, it was going 'beep beep'," he continued.

"But when it got closer, it just laid on the horn. The horn didn't stop. It must have been 30 seconds long. Then, they finally turned around, he pushed her, and he went under and she hit the corner of the train."

Hundreds of people gathered at Earle Yorton Little League Park for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of Moore, and in support of Friend.

Chief David Baker of Marysville Police said an investigation is underway as to why the pair did not see, hear or feel the vibrations of the slow-moving train.

"We just don't know," he said.

"We don't know what distractions had been in place," he added. "We just have no information on that at this point in time."