Two killed and 110 hurt in third Amtrak crash in two months

An Amtrak passenger train has crashed into a freight train parked on a side track in South Carolina, killing two Amtrak employees and injuring more than 110 people.

It was the third deadly wreck involving Amtrak in less than two months.

The Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with nearly 150 people aboard when it ploughed into the CSX train at an estimated 59mph, state governor Henry Mcmaster said.

The crash happened around a shunting yard about ten miles south of Columbia. The governor said investigators had yet to determine how the Amtrak train ended up on that stretch of track.

“Thecsxwasonthetrack it was supposed to be on,” Mr Mcmaster said. The National Transportation Safety Board has sent investigators. Mr 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.

The locomotives of both trains were left crumpled, with the Amtrak engine on its side. One carriage in the middle of the Amtrak train was snapped in half. “It’s a horrible thing to see, to understand the force involved,” Mr Mcmaster said.

Many passengers were asleep when the train began shaking violently and then jerked to a halt, passenger Derek Pettaway said. “You knew we’d hit something or we’d derailed,” he said.

Elliot Smith said that he was staying with a friend when they heard what sounded like a propane tank exploding.

“The sound was so loud, you instantly knew it was bad,” he said. Mr Smith said he and his friend saw passengers limping along the tracks while others tried to get everyone out of the carriages.

Amtrak officials gathered up luggage and other belongings and within hours put passengers on buses to their destinations. Before being sent on their way, those who were not hurt were taken to a shelter set up at a middle school.

“We know they are shaken up quite a bit. We know this is like nothing else they have ever been through,” a sheriff ’s spokesman said.

On Wednesday, a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a strategy retreat crashed into a rubbish truck at a crossing in rural Virginia, killing one person and injuring six others.

Meanwhile, on 18 December, an Amtrak train ran off the rails along a curve during its inaugural run on a route south of Tacoma, Washington, killing three people and injuring dozens.