DUPONT, Wash. - U.S. officials confirmed an Amtrak train was hurtling 50 mph (80 km/h) over the speed limit when it careened off an overpass south of Seattle, spilling cars onto the highway below and killing at least three people.
Bella Dinh-Zarr, a National Transportation Safety Board member, said at a Monday night news conference that information from the event data recorder in the rear locomotive showed the train was travelling at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone when it derailed at 7:34 a.m. Mangled train cars ended up on top of each other - and one hung precariously over the freeway.
When the clanging of metal and screeching stopped at first it was quiet. Then came the screams.
After the crash, the injured called out as rescuers - including people who had been in cars on their morning freeway commute - rushed to help. One of the train passengers was Emma Shafer, who found herself at a 45-degree angle staring at the seats in front of her that had dislodged and swung around.
“It felt oddly silent after the actual crashing,” Shafer said. “Then there was people screaming because their leg was messed up ... I don't know if I actually heard the sirens, but they were there. A guy was like, 'Hey, I'm Robert. We'll get you out of here.”'
Dinh-Zarr said it's not yet known what caused the train to derail and that “it's too early to tell” why it was going so fast.
Positive train control - the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train - wasn't in use on this stretch of track, according to Amtrak President Richard Anderson.
In 2015, an Amtrak train in Philadelphia was travelling at twice the 50 mph speed limit as it entered a sharp curve and derailed. Eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured when the locomotive and four of the train's seven passenger cars jumped the tracks. Several cars overturned and ripped apart.
A track chart prepared by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows the maximum speed drops from 79 mph (127 kph) to 30 mph (48 kph) for passenger trains just before the tracks curve to cross Interstate 5, which is where the train went off the tracks.
The chart, dated Feb. 7, was submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration in anticipation of the start of passenger service along a new bypass route that shaves off 10 minutes for the trip between Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
Kimberly Reason with Sound Transit, the Seattle-area transit agency that owns the tracks, said speed signs are posted 2 miles (3 kilometres) before the speed zone changes and just before the speed zone approaching the curve.
Eric Corp, a councilman for the small city of DuPont near the derailment, said he rode the train with about 30 or so dignitaries and others on a special trip Friday before the service opened to the public Monday.
“Once we were coming up on that curve, the train slowed down considerably,” he said, adding that “in no way did it make me feel like we were going too fast.”
The train was not full. Authorities said there were 80 passengers and five on-duty crew members on board when it derailed and pulled 13 cars off the tracks. Authorities said there were three confirmed deaths. More than 70 people were taken for medical care - including 10 with serious injuries.
About two hours after the accident, a U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation said he was told at least six people were killed. The official said he had no new information to explain the discrepancy in the numbers. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, the FBI said local police were the primary responders and there was no information suggesting “an elevated risk to Washington residents.”
In a radio transmission immediately after the accident, the conductor can be heard saying the train was coming around a corner and was crossing a bridge that passed over Interstate 5 when it derailed.
Dispatch audio also indicated that the engineer survived with bleeding from the head and both eyes swollen shut.
“I'm still figuring that out. We've got cars everywhere and down onto the highway,” he tells the dispatcher, who asks if everyone is OK.
Aleksander Kristiansen, a 24-year-old exchange student at the University of Washington from Copenhagen, was going to Portland to visit the city for the day.
“I was just coming out of the bathroom when the accident happened. My car just started shaking really, really badly,” he said.
The back of his train car was wide open because it had separated from the rest of the train, so he and others were able to jump out to safety.
The train was making the inaugural run on the new route as part of a $180.7 million project designed to speed up service by removing passenger trains from a route along Puget Sound that's bogged down by curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.
The new bypass was built on an existing inland rail line that runs along Interstate 5 from Tacoma to DuPont, near where Train 501 derailed.
Commuters rushed to Amtrak train wreckage to help survivors
By Rachel La Corte and Sally Ho
A neurosurgeon and an Eagle Scout. A college student and military medics.
Commuters and emergency workers alike rushed to help survivors when the Amtrak passenger train derailed.
Oregon Health & Science University neurosurgeon Dr. Nathan Selden was headed to Seattle with his college-aged son when they came upon the deadly wreck near DuPont, Washington.
It was the first mass casualty event Selden had seen, and he was amazed to see that one infant involved in the wreck seemed miraculously unharmed.
At least three people were killed and other were badly injured, authorities said. Selden was ushered to a medical triage tent to help tend to survivors as his son started running supplies from the firetrucks to the medical tents.
The most severely injured people had already been taken to hospitals by the time he arrived, Selden said, and the victims he assessed had sprains, open wounds, skull and pelvis fractures and other injuries.
He applauded the first responders as skilled, dedicated and compassionate. Trained professionals and untrained helpers worked together “amazingly well,” he said.
“We were very close to the trains and it was a chaotic scene but a scene of complete purpose. Everybody knew what the goal was,” Selden said.
Daniel Konzelman was also driving nearby with a friend when they saw the derailment. They pulled over and rushed to the wreckage, running along the tracks and over the bridge to reach the scene.
Some train cars had their roofs ripped off or were turned upside down. Others were turned sideways on the bridge. Konzelman, 24, and his friend clambered into train cars to look for victims.
“I just wanted to help people because I would want people to help me,” he said.
A few years earlier Konzelman had become an Eagle Scout, and his scout training in first aid and emergency response kicked in, he said.
The scene was grisly, with some people pinned under the train and others who appeared to be dead. If people could move and seemed stable, Konzelman said he helped them climb out of the train. If they looked seriously hurt, he tried to offer comfort by talking to them to calm them down.
They stayed to help for nearly two hours.
“I wasn't scared. I knew what to expect. ... I prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. I saw a little bit of both,” Konzelman said.
The train was making its first-ever run along a faster new route between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle.
About 35 military personnel from the nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord were among the first to respond to the derailment. Base spokesman Gary Dangerfield paramedics, firefighters and others from the base regularly train with local authorities so they are ready to help in emergencies.
Witnesses said some military personnel ran to the cars stopped along the side of the road, gathering first aid kits, towels and other items that could assist in the rescue efforts.
Wendy Simmons arrived as people were helping the injured and saw first responders climbing into the train cars dangling over the edge of the overpass. She said people driving by also were stopping to help.
“People were pulling first aid kits out of their cars - putting jackets on people,” she told Seattle-area television station KCPQ.
