Amtrak derailment: Mother and aunt among four dead as Boy Scouts recall bloody scene in Missouri

The train was on its way to Chicago from Los Angeles when the accident occurred

Train carrying 243 passengers derails near Kansas City, Missouri

A woman’s mother and aunt from Olathe, Missouri, have been identified by family as being among the four people killed when an Amtrak train derailed in Kansas City, Missouri, according to local news outlet KSHB.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said three passengers died and the driver of a dump truck that collided with the Los Angeles to Chicago passenger train were among the dead, who have not been named.

Investigtors are currently at the scene of the crash in Mendon and the railroad is expected to remain closed for a matter of days following the collision at railroad crossing on Monday afternoon.

Amtrak, which confirmed 275 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the Southwest Chief intercity train, said it is “deeply saddened” to learn about the deaths of the passengers and the truck driver and that is cooperating with investigators.

The incident was the second in two days for Amtrak after three people were killed and two others suffered severe injuries when a train carrying 85 passengers hit a vehicle in rural California.

Key points

• Mother and aunt among dead, family say
• Boy Scout passengers recall seeing bloody scene
• Farmer warned about crossing safety before crash
• Aerial footage shows train tipped on its side

[28 June 2022 22:08 · Gino Spocchia]

Reminder: What is Amtrak?

Amtrak is a state and US government-funded railway that operates more than 300 passenger trains daily in nearly every contiguous US state and parts of Canada.

The rail company was created by Congress in 1970 to take over the majority of the intercity passenger rail services previously operated by private companies in the US.

The Southwest Chief – the intercity service that crashed on Monday – takes about two days to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago, picking up passengers at stops in between. 

In 2021, Amtrak served 12.2m passengers and made $2.08bn in revenue.

It was also handed $22bn for repairs and another $44bn for other investments as part of the biggest government-funded boost in decades (via US President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill).

An Amtrak train in Washington DC (AFP via Getty Images)

[28 June 2022 22:20 · Gino Spocchia]

Senators stand ready to help

Missouri Senator Roy Blunt reacted to the crash by offering “with any federal resources that may be needed.”

As did the state’s other Republican senator, Josh Hawley, say he was ready to assist where he could.

“We are closely watching this emergency situation as it develops and stand ready to help however we can,” he said in a tweet on Monday evening.

[28 June 2022 22:40 · Josh Marcus]

A brief history of Amtrak accidents

The derailment was the second in as many as days for Amtrak, which has suffered from a number of similar incidents in the past decade.

That includes in April 2016 when two maintenance workers were hit and killed by an Amtrak train travelling at more than 100 mph in Pennsylvania, causing the lead locomotive to derail.

The previous month, a train travelling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed on the same line as Monday’s incident, injured 32 people. That was caused by a cattle feed delivery truck bumping into the track and pusheingthe rails out of alignment.

The worst Amtrak derailment in recent years came in May 2015, when eight people died and more than 200 were injured when a train took a corner at twice the speed limit of 50 mph.

[28 June 2022 23:00 · Josh Marcus]

State troopers controlling traffic around crash site

Missouri state troopers have been pictured controlling traffic on roads around the derailed Amtrak train on Tuesday, as investigators gather evidence from the wreckage of several train cars.

The railroad itself is expected to be closed to passenger and freight trains for a “a matter of days”, the chairwoman of the NTSB, Jennifer Homendy, told reporters.

A state trooper at the scene of the derailed Amtrak train (AP)

[28 June 2022 23:20 · Josh Marcus]

Video shows passengers climbing out

A number of dramatic videos captured passengers escaping from a crowded Amtrak train that hit a dump truck and derailed in Missouri on Monday.

“Damn, it happened,” passenger Robert Nightingale could be heard saying in one video which he posted on Facebook live. Other passengers were seen sitting on top of overturned rail cars.

Josh Marcus has more:

[29 June 2022 00:06 · Josh Marcus]

NTSB investigation and cleanup begins at derailment site

A 14-person team from the National Transportation Safety Board has begun its investigation of the shocking Amtrak derailment on Monday in Missouri that killed four people, KMBC reports.

The investigators will remove the train’s event recorder, go through the wreckage at the derailment site, and scrutinise camera footage taken on the train itself.

[29 June 2022 00:48 · Josh Marcus]

Boy Scouts helped rescue passengers after derailment

Two Boy Scout troops from Wisconsin helped rescue their fellow passengers on Monday after an Amtrak train derailed in Missouri.

The scouts broke windows, helped people off overturned rail cars, and even attempted to save the life of the driver of the dump truck on the tracks which collided with the train.

“I’m proud of them. One scout wrapped his hand, took his shirt off, wrapped his hand to break some windows to get people out. Another scout went and comforted the driver of the truck that was hit and tried to stabilize him,” said Dan Skrypczak, scout master of Troop 73, WBAY reports.

[29 June 2022 01:57 · Josh Marcus]

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sits down for lengthy interview. Will he mention Amtrak?

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sat down with NBC News’s Lester Holt on Tuesday, following a weekend that saw multiple Amtrak derailments in the span of two days.

So far, it seems they’ve mainly discussed the airline industry, however.

Here’s a snippet from the conversation.

[29 June 2022 04:00 · Josh Marcus]

Hero teacher on first ever Amtrak trip helps rescue passengers in Missouri derailment: ‘It was chaos’

Who was on the Amtrak train that derailed in Missouri on Monday?

The Independent sat down with one of them, Jason Drinkard, a high school social studies teacher who helped assist ailing passengers.

Here is his story.

[29 June 2022 05:00 · Josh Marcus]

Passenger on derailed Amtrak says experience was "hell on Earth”

What’s it like to be on a train that derails?

According to Charles Hoffman, a passenger on the Amtrak train that derailed in Missouri on Monday, it’s “hell on Earth.”

“I was riding backwards, so that was a blessing because I didn’t fly forward on the impact, but all I heard was a bam, bang, boom,” he told NPR. “And all of a sudden the train dropped down, which I thought was probably when it went off track.”

The experience was so shocking he was taken to the hospital for an elevated heart rate.

“The whole night when I was trying to fall asleep I kept getting flashbacks, and like visuals and things running through my head and it made it very hard to sleep,” he added.