2 dead, 116 hurt as Amtrak carrying nearly 150 from N.Y. derails

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 

Two Amtrak employees were killed and another 116 people were wounded when their Miami-bound train slammed into a freight train and derailed early Sunday in central South Carolina, officials said.

Passengers aboard Train 91 were rattled at about 2:35 a.m. when it hit a stationary CSX train just south of Columbia, authorities said.

“It appears to me that the CSX was on the track that it was supposed to be on,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told reporters noting federal investigators will make a final determination. “It appears that Amtrak was on the wrong track.”

He didn’t say how fast the Amtrak train was going, indicating it was possible moving as fast as 59 mph.

Photos showed the mangled front of the CSX locomotive, which officials said was empty at the time of the collision.

“That’s about as forceful you can get,” McMaster said, adding the CSX train was “barely recognizable.”

Authorities investigate the scene of a fatal Amtrak train crash in Cayce, S.C., early Sunday. (TIM DOMINICK/AP)

“It’s quite a crash,” he said.  

The Amtrak engine — along with several of its cars — was thrown from the rails and landed on its side.

"This is bad. Really bad," wrote Twitter user jdspires, alongside a video showing the massive emergency response at the site of the wreckage.

"So many ambulances," he said in another post.

A Lexington County spokesman said 116 people were treated for injuries, which local media said ranged from bruises to broken bones.

At least two were killed and dozens injured in the incident. (TIM DOMINICK/AP)

The train, which left from New York’s Penn Station, had 139 passengers and eight crew members at the time of the crash.

All passengers were cleared out by 6:30 a.m.

Those who weren’t injured were escorted to a middle school in Pine Ridge, S.C., where they took shelter.

“Their spirits were unusually good,” McMaster said. “I know there’s one woman there on her way to her husband’s funeral.”

Many of the passengers were reportedly jolted from their sleep by the accident.

Amtrak Train 91 was carrying 139 passengers when its lead engine collided with a CSX freight train. (TIM DOMINICK/AP)

One of them was Derek Pettaway, who was headed for Orlando and was treated for whiplash.

“Nobody was panicking,” Pettaway told CNN. “I think people were more in shock than anything else.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was en route to investigate the crash.

About 5,000 gallons of diesel poured out of the CSX train, officials said, but caused no public threat.