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2 Amtrak employees die in crash involving passenger & freight trains

Posted at 6:41 AM, Feb 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-04 11:04:24-05

CAYCE, South Carolina (CNN and FOX NEWS) — Two Amtrak personnel were killed and over 100 others were injured when an Amtrak passenger train collided with a CSX freight train early Sunday just outside the capital of South Carolina, officials said.

The South Carolina Emergency Management Division said Amtrak 91 was traveling from New York to Miami when it collided with the CSX train in Cayce around 2:35 a.m.

“We have anywhere from scratches and bumps to more severe broken bones,” Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill told reporters.

Amtrak said in a statement the train’s lead engine derailed, as did some passenger cars that was carrying eight crew members and approximately 139 passengers on board. TV footage from the crash scene showed the aftermath of the collision, with the Amtrak engine on its side and its front crumpled.

This is the latest incident involving an Amtrak train in the past few weeks.

In December, an Amtrak train derailed near DuPont in Washington state and hurtled off an overpass onto Interstate 5, killing three people and injuring dozens. The Amtrak engineer on that train told investigatorshe mistook a signal and braked moments before the deadly crash, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Last week, an Amtrak train carrying members of Congress to a Republican retreat in West Virginia struck a truck near Charlottesville, Virginia. Investigators looking into the crash are focusing on the actions of the driver of a truck, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.