South Carolina train crash leaves two dead and dozens injured

A crash between an Amtrak passenger train and a CSX freight train near South Carolina’s capital has killed two people and injured nearly 90.

It was the third deadly crash involving Amtrak in less than two months.

Amtrak’s Silver Star was on its way from New York to Miami with eight crew members and about 140 passengers when the crash happened at around 2.45am. near Cayce, authorities said.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash but the National Transportation Safety Board sent investigators.

The crash happened near a rail yard about 10 miles south of Columbia, where several track spurs split off for freight cars to be unloaded. Authorities said they have not determined if both trains were moving at the time.

The Amtrak train’s lead engine and some of the passenger cars derailed, Amtrak said. TV footage showed the locomotive on its side, its front crumpled.

At least 89 people were taken to hospitals, and three were admitted, hospital officials said.

Amtrak officials worked to gather luggage and other belongings and line up buses to take passengers on to their destinations. Those who were not hurt were taken in patrol cars to a shelter, and local businesses provided coffee and breakfast.

“We know they are shaken up quite a bit. We know this is like nothing else they have ever been through. So we wanted to get them out of the cold, get them out of the weather — get them to a warm place,” sheriff’s spokesman Adam Myrick said.

On Wednesday, a chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress to a strategy retreat slammed into a rubbish truck at a crossing in rural Virginia, killing one person in the truck and injuring six others.

On December 18, an Amtrak train ran off the rails along a curve during its inaugural run on a route south of Tacoma, Washington, killing three people and injuring dozens. It was going at nearly 80 mph, more than twice the speed limit.