A fourth particular person has died after an Amtrak practice crashed right into a dump truck and derailed Monday afternoon in rural Missouri, injuring 150 folks, authorities mentioned Tuesday.
Three of these killed have been practice passengers, and one died at hospital in Columbus, mentioned Missouri State Highway Patrol in an announcement Tuesday. Amtrak mentioned the driving force of the dump truck additionally died.
The crash occurred at 12:42 p.m. in Mendon, Missouri, about 84 miles northeast of Kansas City. Amtrak mentioned about 275 passengers and 12 crew members have been aboard a practice en route to Chicago from Los Angeles when it hit a dump truck.
Seven of eight vehicles on the Amtrak Southwest Chief practice got here off the tracks, mentioned Cpl. Justin Dunn, spokesperson for Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Law enforcement and Amtrak officers took 150 folks to 10 hospitals on Monday with accidents starting from minor to critical, in accordance to the freeway patrol.
National Transportation Safety Board officers arrived in rural Missouri on Tuesday to examine the derailment. The incident follows one other Amtrak practice crash Sunday in northern California the place three folks died.
Here’s what we all know:
How did the practice derail?
The crash and derailment occurred on a gravel street in Chariton County, southwest of Mendon, at an “uncontrolled intersection” with no visitors lights or digital controls, mentioned Lt. Eric Brown of the Missouri State Highway Patrol on Monday.
The National Transportation Safety Board mentioned Monday it was too early to speculate on why the truck was on the tracks at an intersection.
Mike Spencer, a farmer working close to the crash website, mentioned the dump truck driver was hauling rock for a levy on a neighborhood creek for an ongoing venture. The crossing is understood to locals as harmful, significantly for folks driving gradual farm tools, he mentioned.
Passengers recount second of crash
Officials responding to the scene discovered practice vehicles have been tossed on their sides and passengers have been left scrambling to discover an exit.
“All of a sudden, the car that we were on was over, and everyone was flying everywhere, seats were coming apart, bags were going everywhere,” Amtrak passenger Jason Drinkard, who boarded the train at Kansas City’s Union Station, told KMBC News.
“It was all over the tracks,” Nightingale reported seeing of the wreckage as he exited the train.
Among the passengers were 16 children and eight adults from two Boy Scout troops heading to Wisconsin, said Scott Armstrong, director of national media relations for the Boy Scouts of America. Nobody in the groups was seriously harmed.
More:Death toll rises to 50 after abandoned trailer found in San Antonio. Here’s what we know.
NTSB investigating the crash
The National Transportation Safety Board despatched a 14-member go-team to the positioning Tuesday.
NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy mentioned trains gained’t have the opportunity to use the monitor for “a matter of days” as investigators gather evidence.
Brown mentioned Monday marked the beginning of a lengthier investigation into Amtrak’s newest derailment. “We have a lot more information we are seeking and need to obtain,” he mentioned at a press convention.
Second Amtrak crash in 2 days
This was the second fatal Amtrak crash in recent days. On Sunday, an Amtrak commuter train in Brentwood, California, struck a vehicle at an unmarked crossing. Three people inside the car were killed and three others were injured, California Highway Patrol reported.
In September, three people died when an Amtrak train derailed in north-central Montana, near Joplin, on its journey between Seattle and Chicago.
2021 DERAILMENT:Cause of Amtrak derailment in Montana still under investigation
Contributing: The Associated Press