In an unfortunate incident, three people have been declared dead and no fewer than 50 have been injured when an Amtrak train which was carrying more than 200 passengers have derailed in northern Missouri on Monday.
The derailment had occurred after the train hit a dump truck at an uncontrolled crossing. The accident killed two on board and a person in the truck, officials said.
Eight cars and two locomotives derailed, Amtrak revealed, while leaving all but one car lying on its side along the track surrounded by grass and farmland.
Some of the passengers had evacuated the wreck through windows facing skyward, social media images showed, as dozens of rescue vehicles and some helicopters soon converged on the scene.
Rescuers used ladders to reach people perched atop the train. A vehicle axle was among the debris strewn along the track.
The train with 243 passengers and a dozen crew on board hit the vehicle near Mendon, Missouri, at 1:42 p.m. ET (1742 GMT) as it traveled eastbound from Los Angeles to Chicago, Amtrak, the U.S. national passenger carrier, said.
Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Justin Dunn confirmed the deaths at a news conference. He said the collision occurred at an uncontrolled crossing without lights or signals.
At least 50 people were injured, the Chariton County Ambulance Service said
Passenger Robert Nightingale told CNN he had been dozing off when the train derailed.
“I could feel the tracks go back and forth, back and forth, and then it started to go, to tumble on my side of the road,” Nightingale said from a school where passengers were taken.
“There were ambulances all over. They were bringing stretchers to the train, and now there are stretchers here at the school,” he said.
In September, an Amtrak train derailed in north central Montana, killing three people.
