An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a freight train parked on a side track in South Carolina early today, 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 AM when it plowed into the CSX train at an estimated 59 mph, Governor Henry McMaster said. The wreck took place around a switchyard about 16 kilometers south of Columbia. The governor said investigators have yet to determine how the Amtrak train ended up on that 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, the Amtrak engine on its side. One car in the middle of the Amtrak train was snapped in half, forming a V off to the side of the tracks. "It's a horrible thing to see, to understand the force involved," McMaster said after touring the scene. Many passengers were asleep with the train began shaking violently and then slammed to a halt, passenger Derek Pettaway told CBS. "You knew we'd hit something or we'd derailed," he said. Elliot Smith told The State newspaper of Columbia 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.
Smith said he and his friend saw passengers limping along the tracks, while others tried to get everyone out of the cars. 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 December 18, 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. It was going nearly 80 mph, more than twice the speed limit.
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