Amtrak Derails in S.C.
Aug. 21 -- An Amtrak train carrying more than 200 passengers derailed today in Lake City, S.C. Officials say the accident may have been caused by a street sweeper that bent the tracks. More than 40 people were taken to area hospitals.
The injuries were “little bumps and bruises” and none were serious, said Highway Patrol First Sgt. Jo Nell.
Nine cars of the southbound Silver Meteor, on its way from New York to Florida, derailed at about 7:30 a.m. near the Lake City Police Department.
“We hear this click-like sound, and then the train shifted. Weknew it. We just knew it and we just grabbed onto the table,” saidBarbara Clark, 60, of Sanford, Fla., who was drinking coffee in the dining car during the derailment. “We heard the wheels coming off thetrack. There is a sound it makes; I don’t know how to tell you. Itwas horrible.”
The National Transportation Safety Board was looking into thecause of the derailment.
At Least 46 Taken to Hospitals
There were 218 passengers and 15 crew members on board, Amtraksaid. At least 46 were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Clark injured her ribs and had to be lifted out of the tiltedcar through a window on a stretcher. She was taken to a hospitalfor X-rays and then released.
“You have some angels in this town. They gathered here thismorning,” she said.
“It kind of shook my house,” said Velvadene Marsh, who livesnear the site. “I thought it was a plane, but when I ran out back,I didn’t see anything.”
About 15 minutes earlier, Nell said, a street sweeper had jumped a curb and bent the railroad tracks.
Two sleeping cars, four coach cars, a dining car, a lounge and a crew dorm jumped the tracks, Amtrak said. A wheel of the enginealso left the rails. Two other cars did not derail.
Red Cross spokesman Laura Jeffords said at least 185 uninjured people weretaken to a shelter.
The injured were taken to hospitals in Lake City and nearby Florence.
