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Four dead and 63 injured in Bronx passenger train derailment Four dead and 63 injured in New York passenger train derailment
(about 1 hour later)
At least four people were killed and 63 injured on Sunday when a commuter train derailed in New York. At least five cars from a Metro-North train went off the tracks, officials said. At least four people were killed on Sunday and 63 injured, 11 of them critically, when a passenger train heading into New York City derailed in the Bronx.
The train derailed on a large curved section of track at 7.20am about 100 yards north of Metro-North's Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for Metro-North, a subsidiary of New York State's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The train left Poughkeepsie at 5.54am and was due to arrive at 7.43am at Grand Central. Two carriages were flipped onto their sides in the early morning incident, which occurred at 7.20am about 100 yards north of Spuyten Duyvil station on the Hudson line of the Metro-North Railroad.
A spokesman for the city fire department confirmed the number of dead and injured and said victims were being transported to local hospitals. It was later confirmed that 11 people were in critical condition, six were in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries and another 46 sustained minor injuries. The New York Fire Department, which coordinated a rescue effort involving hundreds of firefighters, police and railway workers, said 63 people were hurt when the seven-carriage, southbound 5.54am service from Poughkeepsie to Manhattan's Grand Central Station left the rails on a sharp bend.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo was preparing to tour the scene, a spokesman for the governor said. Three of the dead were killed as they were thrown from the train, according to FDNY chief of department Edward Kilduff. Numerous passengers were taken away on stretchers to local hospitals, officials said at a press conference three hours after the derailment.
None of the cars entered the Hudson or Harlem rivers, which are adjacent to the tracks near Spuyten Duyvil, the MTA said. The crash was reported by the engineer, and it wasn't clear if any crew members were injured, the MTA said. Kilduff said he believed all the passengers and train crew were accounted for after a rescue operation that included divers searching for survivors in the adjacent Harlem River, and that he thought the casualty count was unlikely to rise further.
The train appeared to be going "a lot faster" than usual as it approached the curve coming into the station, passenger Frank Tatulli told WABC-TV. Another passenger, Joel Zaritsky, told the Associated Press he was on his way to New York City for a dental convention. "Three of the four fatalities were thrown as the train came off the track and was twisting and turning somewhat," he said. "The train is pretty beat up. There was substantial damage inside and a lot of personal possessions thrown around.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times. Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train," he said, holding his bloody right hand. "We believe we've searched the entire area and we don't have any other victims we're aware of." Kilduff added that he did not yet know exactly how many people had been aboard the train.
Passengers were taken off the derailed train, with dozens bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads. The Fire Department of New York said 130 firefighters were on the scene. Eyewitnesses said they saw dozens of scratched and bloodied passengers leaving the wreckage, several holding ice packs to their heads. Frank Tatulli, a passenger in the front carriage, which came to rest just inches from the edge of the Harlem River, told a local TV station that he felt the train was travelling "a lot faster" than it usually would coming into the station.
A witness, Edwin Valero, was in an apartment building above the accident scene when the train derailed. He says none of the cars went into the water where the Harlem River meets the Hudson, but at least one ended up a few feet from the edge. An anonymous law enforcement official told journalists the train's driver had said he tried to apply the brakes before the bend but that they did not work.
"I didn't realize [the train] had been turned over until I saw a firefighter walking on the window," he said. State officials indicated that they had ruled out criminal activity or terrorism as a cause and that the incident appeared to be an accident. Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, visited the scene and told reporters that investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board would arrive later on Sunday.
Another witness, Rebecca Schwartz, was at a nearby park when the accident occurred. She said she didn't see or hear the derailment but looked across the water when she heard emergency vehicle sirens. She said numerous emergency vehicles had responded to the scene. "Four people lost their lives today, in the holiday season just after Thanksgiving, and they're in our thoughts and prayers," he said. "This is obviously a very tragic situation. The first order of business is to care for the people who were on the train. We are trying to save lives. New York is blessed with the best first responders I think anywhere in the country.
It was reported that service has been suspended on the lower section of the Hudson line, from Croton Harmon to Grand Central. "In terms of causes, we don't know exactly what happened, The NTSB is on its way they'll do a thorough investigation and we'll wait to see what the NTSB say before speculating as to any causes."
Cuomo added that the train driver was injured and was being cared for at a local hospital.
Another passenger, Joel Zaritsky, told Associated Press that he was travelling into the city for a dental conference.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times," he said. "Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train."
Thomas Prendergast, chairman of the Manhattan Transportation Authority, said the speed of the train would be "one of the factors" investigators would look at, but that his first priorities were the injured passengers, then seeing if any service on the blocked line could be restored by the start of the working week tomorrow. Services were immediately suspended between Croton-Harmon and Grand Central. Amtrak services between New York City and Albany were also cancelled.
The stretch of line where Sunday's incident took place saw another derailment earlier this year, when a northbound freight train came off the track in July.
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