South Carolina train crash leaves 2 dead, dozens hurt

An Amtrak passenger train slammed into a freight train parked on a side track in South Carolina early Sunday, killing two Amtrak crew members and injuring more than 110 people, authorities said.It was the third deadly wreck involving Amtrak in less than two months.

Amtrak's Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with 145people aboard, including nine crew members,around 2:35 a.m. ET when it plowed into the CSX train at an estimated 94km/h, Gov. Henry McMaster said. The crash happened around a switchyard about 16 kilometressouth of Columbia.

McMastersaid the first 911 call came in at 2:34a.m. ET after the moving Amtrak train collided with the freight train, which was stationary. He said the two people who were killed were both Amtrak employeesand that 116 people from the passenger train were taken to area hospitals.

Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher identified the two dead as engineerMichael Kempf, 46, ofSavannah, Ga., and conductor Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla.

Officials have said they don't believe there was anyone aboard the freight train at the time of the crash.

CSX train on the righttrack

McMaster said theAmtrak train hit the CSX train at an estimated 94 km/hin a switchyard, where several lines split off for freight cars to be unloaded. He saidinvestigators have yet to determine how the Amtrak train ended up on that stretch of track.

"The CSX was on the track it was supposed to be on," McMaster said.

"It's a horrible thing to see, to understand the force involved," hesaid after touring the scene.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), whichhelda briefing Sunday afternooninCayce,said an Amtrak outward-facing video was recovered and sent to itslab inWashington, D.C. But theevent recorders have not been found.

NTSBchairman RobertSumwaltsaid at the news conference the key to theinvestigationwill be why a switch was turned to force the Amtraktrain onto a side track and into a parked freight train.Sumwaltsaid that the switch was padlocked to send trains on the main line to the side track, which conductors are supposed to do when they change lines.

"Key to this investigation is learning why the switch waslined that way," he said, calling the damage to the locomotives
"catastrophic."

He saidthe freight train crew took theCSXtrain from one side track across the main line and back to another side track after unloading automobiles.Sumwaltsaidinvestigators don't know if the signals further up the line indicated the train had been switched off the main route.

NTSBexpertswill be onsite for the next five to seven days.AnotherNTSBbriefing is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Amtrak President Richard Anderson appeared to point the finger atCSX, saying the signal system run by the freight railroad at that spot was down at the time, andCSXdispatchers were manually routing trains.

The only way the Amtrak train could have gotten onto the siding was for a switch to have been thrown, Anderson said.

CSXissued a statement expressing condolences but said nothing about the cause of the accident.

In an emailed statement earlier, Amtrak said that it was "deeply saddened" by the deaths and that it was co-operating fully with the NTSB. It did not address the cause of the crash but said CSX maintains all of the tracks and signal systems where the accident happened and controls access to the sidings and yards.

Many passengers were asleep whenthe train began shaking violently and then slammed to a halt, passenger Derek Pettaway told CBS. He said he himself was asleep in one of the rear cars when he was jolted awake.

"You knew we'd hit something or we'd derailed," he said.

The Amtrak train's lead engine and some of the passenger cars derailed, Amtrak said. TV footage showed the locomotive on its side, its front crumpled.

1 in critical condition

Three of the injured were admitted to hospital, officials said.Dr. Steve Shelton, a spokesperson for Palmetto Health, said one of the injured is in critical condition.

"Two others are in serious condition. A few othersare being assessedfor serious conditions," he said.

Amtrak officials worked to gather luggage and other belongings and line up buses to take passengers on to their destinations. Those who weren't hurt were taken in patrol cars to a shelter, and local businesses provided coffee and breakfast.

"We know they are shaken up quite a bit. We know this is like nothing else they have ever been through. So we wanted to get them out of the cold, get them out of the weather get them to a warm place," sheriff's spokespersonAdam Myrick said.

The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump has been briefed on the accident and is receiving regular updates.

• Train carrying Republican lawmakers hits garbage truck in Virginia, 1 dead

On Wednesday, a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a strategy retreat slammed into a garbage truck at a crossing in rural Virginia, killing one person in the truck and injuring six others.

And on Dec. 18, 2017, an Amtrak train ran off the rails along a curve during its inaugural run on a route south of Tacoma, Wash., killing three people and injuring dozens. It was going nearly 130 km/h, more than twice the speed limit.