An Amtrak train collided with a CSX freight train early Sunday in South Carolina, leaving two dead and at least 70 injured. The incident marks Amtrak’s third fatal crash in less than 50 days.
According to authorities, Amtrak 91 collided with the freight train just outside of the state’s capital of Columbia around 2:35 a.m. EST, sending 70 of its 140 passengers to area hospitals.
“We have anywhere from scratches and bumps to more severe broken bones,” a spokesperson for local law enforcement told media at a morning news conference. It was not clear from authorities whether the two dead were on the Amtrak train or the freight train.
It appears, from television footage obtained by Fox News, that the two trains hit head on,. A still from surveillance video shows the Amtrak’s engine derailed and on its side, and the engine from the freight train — and its first several cars —crumpled and torn apart on the side facing the Amtrak train.
It is also not immediately clear which train was moving at the time. The Amtrak had, reportedly, been diverted to a spur while it waited for the freight train to pass, but media sources were unable to confirm the sequence of events Sunday morning.
Breaking News: Amtrak had its second deadly crash in a week. A collision in South Carolina killed at least 2 people.https://t.co/tGTqI2hFkv
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 4, 2018
The freight train also reportedly spilled fuel as a result of the accident and authorities were already working to get the spill under control.
This is the third accident for Amtrak in nearly the same number of weeks. In late December, a speeding Amtrak train flew off the tracks in Washington state, killing three people, injuring 70, and causing more than $40 million in damage.
Just last Thursday, as Republican members of Congress were headed to a retreat, their Amtrak train hit a garbage truck outside of Crozet, Virginia, killing the truck’s driver and seriously injuring his passenger. Authorities say that crash could have been the result of a malfunctioning signal system or a problematic emergency brake system that stayed engaged.