HERO RUSHES TO HELP TRAIN CRASH VICTIMS
‘I didn’t know what I was walking into’
Daniel Konzelman, 24, was driving to work with his girlfriend when he saw the aftermath of the Amtrak crash and jumped into action. Here is his story, as told to the Herald’s Dan Atkinson.
“We saw the train pass us on the right. We came up to the bridge and didn’t have any clue about what was going on and why cars were stopping. Then I realized the train was hanging off the bridge, that’s not supposed to be like that.
I drove up an on-ramp and up onto the bluff. I have a headlamp and work boots, I threw them on as fast as I could and bushwhacked down the bluff and we sprinted as fast as we could to the crash. I didn’t know what to expect or anything, people were down in the cars in shock and nobody was doing anything.
I’m an Eagle Scout and have a lot of first-aid experience so I went from person to person and assessed them; if they were OK, we had people walk them down to the road. My girlfriend was there. She grew up in a family of nurses so she kept it cool; she knew what to do.
I said, ‘All right, I’ve got to go into the train.’
I didn’t know what I was walking into. I climbed in one of the broken windows; that first one had no major injuries. Another car had a person who had a pretty major head injury. I went down to other cars, two other guys were with me. We found a couple people who had head and neck and back injuries; we got them stabilized.
By that time an officer showed up. We cleared cars that were connected, then we went to one of the cars that was overturned. We found deceased people and pretty major injuries, people trapped under the train car.
The car was completely upside-down and partly suspended in the air. I was hoping the train wouldn’t settle, wouldn’t crush the people working under it.
We got inside as much as we could. There were a couple parts where you see something and realize it’s a body part and it becomes really real. You feel like throwing up at this point, but you look away and put energy into comforting people who are still there.
It was pretty bad at that point; there was nothing I could do to get them out. But I wanted to stay there with them and comfort them. I got close to them and held their hands, told them they were doing great, that we’d get them out of there as soon as we could.
There were sounds coming from the wreckage; we couldn’t even see people. There was not a lot to do other than what you would want someone to do for you. I’d just want someone to be with me.
They were able to get three people still alive out, others were deceased, one was thrown from the car. The fire department took over; we let them do what they do.”