Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce within this State shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce or, in case of the death of such employee, to his personal representative for the benefit (a) of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee, (b) if none, of such employee’s parents and (c) if none, then of the next of kin, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents or employees of such carrier or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves or other equipment. And in every such action the jury may give such damages as they may think proportioned to the injury or injuries resulting from such death to the parties, respectively, for whom and for whose benefit such action shall be brought and the amount so recovered shall be divided among the before-mentioned parties in such shares as they would have been entitled to if the deceased had died intestate and the amount recovered had been personal assets of his estate.