Death toll rises as details surface in Amtrak derailment

The Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia, killing at least seven people, was hurtling at more than 100 mph before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve where the speed limit is just 50 mph, federal investigators said Wednesday. The engineer at the controls refused to give a statement to authorities and left a police precinct with a lawyer, police said. More than 200 people were injured in the derailment that plunged screaming passengers into darkness and chaos Tuesday night. It was the nation’s deadliest train accident in nearly seven years. According to a Reuters report, the train was not fitted with the latest safety controls.

Along the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is a way of life for many. From Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia to New York City and Boston, this is a tragedy that touches us all.

President Barack Obama

Meanwhile, federal authorities will look at a variety of evidence as they try to pinpoint the cause of the derailment. The recovered black box was sent for analysis to help determine what caused the crash. A former head of railroad accident investigations at the National Transportation Safety Board, Bob Chipkevich, says they’ll focus on the data recorder, video recorder and equipment condition. Among the seven people killed, one victim was an Associated Press employee and another was a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. The others have not yet been publicly identified.

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