‘It’s a horrible thing to see’
Two Amtrak workers killed, 116 hurt in South Carolina crash
An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a parked freight train on a side track in South Carolina early Sunday, killing two Amtrak employees and injuring more than 110 people, authorities said. It was the third deadly wreck involving Amtrak in less than two months.
Amtrak’s Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with eight crew members and about 140 passengers around 2:45 a.m. when it plowed into the CSX train at about 59 miles per hour, Gov. Henry McMaster said. The wreck took place near a switchyard about 16 kilometres south of Columbia.
The governor said investigators have yet to determine how the Amtrak train ended up on the same stretch of track.
“The CSX was on the track it was supposed to be on,” McMaster said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators.
McMaster said 116 people were taken to four hospitals. The main trauma hospital in the area had three patients in critical or serious condition with the rest treated for minor injuries such as cuts, bruises and whiplash, said Dr. Steve Shelton, Palmetto Health director of emergency preparedness.
Drone footage showed the locomotives of both trains crumpled, with the Amtrak engine on its side. One car in the middle of the Amtrak train was snapped in half, bent like a V.
“It’s a horrible thing to see, to understand the force involved,” McMaster said after touring the scene.
Amtrak officials gathered up luggage and other belongings and within hours put passengers aboard buses to their destinations. Before being sent on their way, those who were not hurt were taken to a shelter and local businesses provided coffee and breakfast.
“We know they are shaken up quite a bit. We know this is like nothing else they have ever been through. So we wanted to get them out of the cold, get them out of the weather — get them to a warm place,” sheriff’s spokesman Adam Myrick said.
On Wednesday, a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a strategy retreat slammed into a garbage truck at a crossing in rural Virginia, killing one person in the truck and injuring six others.
And on Dec. 18, an Amtrak train ran off the rails along a curve during its inaugural run on a route south of Tacoma, Wash., killing three people and injuring dozens. It was going nearly 80 m.p.h., more than twice the speed limit.