At least five dead, dozens injured in Philadelphia train derailment

At least five people have been killed after an Amtrak train derailed near Philadelphia leaving 10 carriages overturned. Dozens of passengers were injured in the incident, which Mayor Michael Nutter described as “an absolute disastrous mess”. Firefighters said dozens of people have been taken to hospital and six of those are critically injured. The train, headed from Washington to New York, was reported to have been travelling at around 60mph when it left the tracks.

It is a devastating scene down there. We walked the entire length of the train area, and the engine completely separated from the rest of the train, and one of the cars is perpendicular to the rest of the cars. It’s unbelievable.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter

It is believed to have been carrying 238 passengers and five crew members. Passenger Paul Cheung said: “The train started to decelerate, like someone had slammed the brake. Then suddenly you could see everything starting to shake. You could see people’s stuff flying over me.” The cause of the derailment was unknown, but Amtrak said it was investigating and was trucking in portable lights to illuminate the scene overnight as workers examined the wreckage. In March, at least 55 people were injured when an Amtrak train collided with a tractor-trailer that was stuck on the tracks in North Carolina.

The front of the train is really mangled. It’s a complete wreck. The whole thing is like a pile of metal.

Passenger Paul Cheung

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