3 dead, multiple injured after an Amtrak train hits a truck and derails in Missouri
An Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed Monday in Missouri, leaving at least three people dead and multiple people injured, authorities said. Seven cars and two locomotives on an Amtrak Southwest Chief train derailed.
According to Amtrak, the train was carrying about 243 passengers and 12 crew members when it collided with a dump truck at around 12:42 p.m. CT near Mendon, Mo., about 100 miles outside of Kansas City.
Two people from the Amtrak train were killed in addition to one person in the dump truck, Missouri State Highway Patrol Corporal Justin Dunn told reporters during a news conference Monday afternoon.
Dunn told reporters there were at least 207 passengers and about 14 crew members, but that the totals are preliminary, and differ from the totals previously reported by Amtrak.
Dunn did not specify an official count of how many others were injured. However, he told reporters that several others were taken to area hospitals.
Three passengers were taken from the scene to University Hospital in Columbia, hospital spokesman Eric Maze told The Associated Press.
Kansas City, Mo., Gov. Mike Parson said at an appearance Monday afternoon that officials were closely monitoring the situation, according to NPR member station KCUR.
"We're just getting initial information in like, like most of you here, you know, it's, it's a terrible situation," Parson said. "Anytime you have a derailment of a train and multiple cars, it's not a good day. So, you know, right now our thoughts and prayers are with the people that were on that train the family, the rescue people."
In a statement, Amtrak said its incident response team has been activated, as the railroad service is currently deploying emergency personnel to the scene to help passengers and employees.
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a tweet that it is sending a 14-person team to investigate the incident.
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