The accident occurred at 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, South Carolina
An Amtrak train en route from New York to Miami collided with a CSX freight train and derailed near Columbia, South Carolina, leaving at least two dead and 70 injured, police and Amtrak officials said.
The accident occurred at 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, South Carolina, causing the lead engine and "some passenger cars" to derail, Amtrak said in an emailed statement. There were eight crew members and approximately 139 passengers, Amtrak said.
Derrec Becker of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said injuries reported include minor cuts as well as broken bones, and he said all passengers had been removed from the train. Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill said passengers who were hurt were taken to local hospitals, but none had life-threatening injuries.
There were two leaks from the train, spilling an estimated 5,000 gallons of fuel, but there was "no threat to the public at this time," Cahill said at a news conference. He said the cause of the crash was not known, and CSX and the National Transportation Safety Board had been called to investigate. He later said that it was unclear from where the fuel had leaked.
Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said on "Fox & Friends" that "one of our priorities" is to recover data recorders to determine "the speed of the Amtrak train at the point of collision."
One passenger, Derek Pettaway, said he woke with a jolt when the collision happened, suffering minor whiplash. He had taken shelter with other passengers at the nearby Pine Ridge Middle School, where authorities were providing medical care. "No one was panicking. I think most people were asleep. I think people were more in shock," Pettaway said in an interview with CNN.
The incident comes less than a week after an Amtrak train carrying GOP lawmakers to a retreat in West Virginia hit a garbage truck, killing one person in the truck.
In December, an Amtrak train in Washington state derailed while crossing an overpass, spilling cars onto a busy highway and killing three people.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The accident occurred at 2:35 a.m. in Cayce, South Carolina, causing the lead engine and "some passenger cars" to derail, Amtrak said in an emailed statement. There were eight crew members and approximately 139 passengers, Amtrak said.
Derrec Becker of the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said injuries reported include minor cuts as well as broken bones, and he said all passengers had been removed from the train. Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill said passengers who were hurt were taken to local hospitals, but none had life-threatening injuries.
There were two leaks from the train, spilling an estimated 5,000 gallons of fuel, but there was "no threat to the public at this time," Cahill said at a news conference. He said the cause of the crash was not known, and CSX and the National Transportation Safety Board had been called to investigate. He later said that it was unclear from where the fuel had leaked.
Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said on "Fox & Friends" that "one of our priorities" is to recover data recorders to determine "the speed of the Amtrak train at the point of collision."
One passenger, Derek Pettaway, said he woke with a jolt when the collision happened, suffering minor whiplash. He had taken shelter with other passengers at the nearby Pine Ridge Middle School, where authorities were providing medical care. "No one was panicking. I think most people were asleep. I think people were more in shock," Pettaway said in an interview with CNN.
The incident comes less than a week after an Amtrak train carrying GOP lawmakers to a retreat in West Virginia hit a garbage truck, killing one person in the truck.
In December, an Amtrak train in Washington state derailed while crossing an overpass, spilling cars onto a busy highway and killing three people.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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