Three people have been killed and at least 50 injured when an Amtrak train carrying 275 people derailed after hitting a dump truck in Kansas City, Missouri Today.
Lt Eric Brown of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a press conference that at least three people had died, two of whom were on the train and one of whom was in the truck.The Southwest Chief Train 4 was on its way from Los Angeles to Chicago when it struck a dump truck. The force of the accident caused the train to derail in the town of Mendon around 12:42pm on Monday, according to Amtrak.
“There were approximately 275 passengers and 12 crew members onboard,” Amtrak said in a statement.
It said that the company is “deeply saddened” to learn about the deaths of three people, two passengers and the truck driver.
The incident is the second in two days for Amtrak trains. On Sunday, three people were killed and two others suffered severe injuries after a train carrying 85 passengers hit a vehicle in rural California.
For Jason Drinkard and his students, passengers aboard a packed Amtrak train that derailed in Missouri on Monday, the day started off with a buzz of excitement.
The social studies teacher and his wife Amanda were taking a group of six students from Pleasant Ridge High School in Easton, Kansas, to Chicago to attend and compete in the Future Business Leaders of America’s three-day National Leadership Conference.
“My kids were super stoked about this,” he told The Independent. “As they got closer and closer, you could feel the excitement building. We were talking about what restaurants we were gonna go to, what sights we were going to see.”
Some of the students had been preparing for months for the business and entrepreneurship focused competition. For almost everyone in the group, it was their first time on the Amtrak.
The train was packed because it had arrived in Kansas City late, causing some travellers to stay on for extra time as they tried to catch a connection in Chicago. That meant Mr Drinkard and his students had to spread across two cars.