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4 killed as Amtrak train derails in Florida
CRESCENT CITY, Fla. (AP) — James Pierce had just settled
into his sleeper car for a 16 1/2-hour train trip to Washington when the train
screeched off the rails and slammed into pine trees lining the tracks.
"It felt like it was sliding to the left and suddenly it
just toppled," said Pierce, an Amtrak attendant from Huntingtown, Md.
Four people were killed and 133 injured when 14 of the
16 passenger cars on the Amtrak Auto Train — a favorite among tourists
traveling between the Northeast and Orlando's theme parks — derailed Thursday
night in a remote area of north Florida.
The death toll had been reported at six, but was revised
by investigators and medical officials, Lt. Bill Leeper of the Florida Highway
Patrol said Friday.
"There was some confusion with body parts inside the wreckage,"
Leeper said.
It could not be immediately determined why the train derailed,
officials said. The track had been inspected hours before the crash and had
been in good condition.
"Apparently the engineer went into an emergency braking
mode — we don't know why," Highway Patrol public information officer Chuck
Williams said.
Amtrak said the train, which transports passengers and
their cars between Sanford, Fla., and Lorton, Va., was carrying 440 passengers
and 28 crew members. The train left Sanford after 4 p.m. and derailed about
an hour later 60 miles north of Orlando.
Leeper said he didn't know how many people were seriously
hurt.
Pierce said he grabbed hold of the sleeper car's curtains
when the train left the track, and within seconds he found himself hanging in
the air. After the train came to a stop, Pierce said he removed the emergency
window and began pulling people out of the cabin.
"Suddenly you could feel the brakes scraping," said David
Sheldon, 71, who was traveling with his wife, Sylvia, from Boca Raton. Sheldon
said it took about 30 seconds for the train to come to stop.
"It seemed like forever," he said.
Robert Dodd Sr., 74, of Willingboro, N.J., said he and
his wife were sitting down to dinner when the train derailed.
"The girl said, 'Do you want white or red wine?"' Dodd
said. "At first I said, 'White, no give me red' and that's the last thing I
remember."
Rescue officials, using ladders to reach the overturned
cars, helped survivors out of the train and reached through the windows to get
to those still trapped inside.
Three passengers were flown by helicopter to Shands Hospital
at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Dr. Kevin Ferguson said. One person
was in critical condition with potentially life-threatening injuries, while
the other two were in serious condition, he said.
Five men and four women were in serious condition at Halifax
Medical Center in Daytona Beach, spokeswoman Kate Holcomb said late Thursday.
Twenty-six people with minor injuries were taken to Memorial Hospital-Peninsula
in Ormond Beach, spokeswoman Desiree Paradis said.
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending investigators
to the scene.
The train consisted of two engines, 16 passenger cars and
202 automobiles stacked in 23 specially designed cars. The tracks are owned,
operated and maintained by CSX Corp.
CSX spokeswoman Jane Covington said a veteran company inspector
visually examined the tracks about eight hours before the crash and found them
to be in good condition.
The derailment was the first Auto Train accident since
1998, when a train hit an empty car on tracks at a crossing in Jarratt, a rural
town in southern Virginia. The front wheels of the lead engine derailed, but
it remained upright. There were no injuries.
The Auto Train service carried 234,000 passengers in 2000,
according to Amtrak, making it one of the most popular and successful routes
of the nation's passenger rail line.
The Amtrak Reform Council, a body created by Congress,
reported this year that Amtrak made money in 2000 only on the Auto Train and
on rail lines in the Northeast.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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