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DHAKA: At least three people died and dozens were injured after an Amtrak train derailed on the inaugural run of a new route in Washington state Monday morning, with part of the train careening off an overpass onto a heavily trafficked highway below, a local official said.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said late Monday local time that the train was going 80 mph around a curve that had a 30 mph speed limit, reports the ABC news.
She said the NTSB had yet to interview the train's engineer and crew and was unaware whether they knew the curve had a 30 mph limit.
None of the deaths were among those who were on the roadway of Interstate 5 when the train cars fell, according to the Pierce County Sheriff's Office. However, several motorists on the highway near Dupont, about 20 miles south of Tacoma, were injured when their vehicles were struck by the derailed train.
The crash left train cars scattered in the surrounding woods and dangling off the overpass, and passengers "catapulted" into the seats in front of them, according to a survivor. All but one of the train's 14 cars jumped the tracks, said Washington State Police spokeswoman Trooper Brooke Bova. Five cars and two semis on the interstate were impacted by the crash, Bova said.
Eighty passengers, five crew members and one technician were on board the train, according to officials.
In the wake of the derailment at about 7:37 a.m. local time, dozens of motorists sprang into action, jumping out of their cars to help, a witness told ABC affiliate KOMO-TV. One described a gut-wrenching scene of Good Samaritans trying to do all they could do to comfort those who were pinned under the train.
In addition to those who died, more than 90 people were taken to hospitals, including 10 who were treated for serious injuries, officials said.
BDST: 1610 HRS, DEC 19, 2017
AP