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An Amtrak passenger train has collided with a CSX freight train in South Carolina, killing at least two people and injuring about 70 others, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) has reported.
- The two people killed were travelling on the Amtrak train
- Most people hurt had minor injuries that would not require hospitalisation
- An estimated 19,000 litres of fuel were spilled
The passenger train was traveling between New York and Miami with 139 passengers and eight crew members aboard.
"Amtrak Train 91, operating between New York and Miami, came in contact with a CSX freight train at around 2:35am in Cayce, South Carolina," Amtrak said in a statement on its website.
"The lead engine was derailed, as well as some passenger cars."
Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said the two people killed were traveling on the Amtrak train.
"The injuries range from cuts and bruises to severe broken bones," said SCEMD public information officer Derrec Becker.
"All the injured have been transported to local hospitals."
Palmetto Health spokeswoman Tammie Epps said 62 passengers were seen at three of its hospitals, and two of those passengers were admitted.
The others appeared to have minor injuries that would not require hospitalisation, she said.
Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill said two leaks of fuel from the trains were secured, and an estimated 5,000 gallons (19,000 litres) of fuel were spilled.
"We have called in DHEC [Department of Health and Environmental Control] and CSX as a team to secure that leak and we are also assisting in that as much as we can," he said.
TV footage from the crash scene showed the aftermath of the collision, with the Amtrak engine on its side and its front crumpled.
The people who were not hurt were taken in patrol cars to a shelter, Lexington County Sheriff's spokesman Adam Myrick said.
"We know they are shaken up quite a bit," he said.
"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."
The crash happened near a stretch of tracks by a rail yard about 16 kilometres south of Columbia, where several track spurs split off for freight cars to be unloaded.
Authorities said they have not determined if both trains were moving or if the Amtrak train was diverted on to a side track.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was deploying investigators to the scene.
South Carolina governor Henry McMaster's spokesman Brian Symmes said the governor was on his way to the site.
Reuters/AP
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, rail, united-states
First posted