PHILADELPHIA — An Amtrak train headed to New York City derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, mangling the front of it, killing at least five people.
Firefighters said dozens were hospitalized and six were critically hurt. Some passengers climbed out of windows to get away.
Mayor Michael Nutter, who confirmed the deaths, said the scene was horrific. “It is an absolute disastrous mess,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
Train 188, a Northeast Regional, had left Washington, D.C., and was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members.
The front of the train was going into a turn when it shook.
An Associated Press manager, Paul Cheung, was on the train and said “the train started to decelerate, like someone had slammed the brake.”
“Then suddenly you could see everything starting to shake,” he said. “You could see people’s stuff flying over me.”
Cheung said he saw passengers trying to escape through the windows of cars tipped on their side.
“The front of the train is really mangled,” he said. “It’s a complete wreck. The whole thing is like a pile of metal.”
The cause of the derailment was unknown, but the area where the derailment occurred is known as Frankford Junction and has a big curve.
The National Transportation Safety Board said an investigative team which would arrive at the site Wednesday morning.
