Officials have revealed that a second person was in the cab the deadly Amtrak crash- as investigators look into whether they may have distracted the driver.
Investigators want to know whether the engineer lost ‘situational awareness’ because of the employee-in-training sitting next to him, a federal official said Tuesday.
Passengers described the crash as ‘like being in an exploded bomb’ after the train ran off the rails at 80mph along a curve south of Seattle – sending some of its cars plummeting onto an interstate highway below.
Officials have revealed that a second person was in the cab the deadly Amtrak crash- as investigators look into whether they may have distracted the driver. Pictured: the derailed train dangles over the edge
A damaged train car sits on a flatbed trailer at left as work continues to remove other cars at the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5
Frst responders work at the scene of an Amtrak train that derailed in DuPont, south of Seattle on Monday
National Transportation Safety Board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said it is not yet known what caused the train to derail and too early to say why it was going so fast.
An investigation is still underway and investigators are speaking to the engineer and other crew members, but it is standard procedure to look at whether the engineer was distracted or incapacitated.
The engineer, whose name was not released, was bleeding from the head after the crash, and his eyes were swollen shut, according to radio transmissions from a crew member. The transmissions mentioned a second person in the front of the train who was also hurt.
The train, with 85 passengers and crew members, was making the inaugural run along a fast new bypass route that was created by refurbishing freight tracks alongside Interstate 5. The 15-mile, $180.7 million project was aimed at speeding up service by bypassing a route with a number of curves, single-track tunnels and freight traffic.
Charlie Heebner, 79, who was traveling aboard the train with his wife, Beverly, (pictured wiht her post-crash injuries) described the moment of impact as ‘like being inside an exploding bomb’
The first victims of the crash have since been identified as local transit employee Zack Willhoite (left in an undated photo) and his friend Jim Hamre (right)
Mangled train cars ended up on top of each other – and one hung precariously over the freeway. When the clanging of metal and screeching stopped at first it was quiet. Then came the screams.
Charlie Heebner, 79, who was traveling aboard the train with his wife, Beverly, described the moment of impact as ‘like being inside an exploding bomb.’
‘All of a sudden it was just, crash … the train went like this,’ Beverly Heebner, 78, told KOMO, showing the slant of the train with her arms as the train derailed off an overpass near the city of DuPont, across the busy Interstate 5.
The couple, who were left with facial bruising and other minor injuries, managed to escape out of a window of the train.
Chris Karnes, another passenger, boarded the train between Seattle and Tacoma and was sat in the third or fourth car when the train derailed.
‘We felt a little bit of a jolt and then at a certain point we could hear crumpling of the train car, and we were catapulted into the seats in front of us,’ said Karnes, who also is the chairman of the Pierce Transit Community Transportation Advisory Group.
Three people were killed in the crash and at least 70 others were injured on the inaugural journey of new high-speed train before it derailed, killing three and injuring 100 others.
Two of the dead were identified as train buffs who belonged to the rail advocacy group All Aboard Washington and were excited to be on board for the inaugural run: Jim Hamre, a retired civil engineer with the state Transportation Department, and Zack Willhoite, a customer service employee at a local transit agency.
‘It’s pretty devastating. We’re having a tough time,’ said All Aboard Washington executive director Lloyd Flem.
Zack Willhoite, 35, and friend Jim Hamre were both killed when the train careened off an overpass south of Seattle, spilling cars onto the highway below on Monday. The third victim has not yet been identified.
Federal officials revealed on Tuesday they were investigating whether the Amtrak engineer was distracted by the presence of an employee-in-training in the locomotive as it emerged the train was hurtling 50mph over the speed limit when it derailed.
Local officials had voiced their concerns about the train speeding so fast through bends at a meeting earlier this month
A few motorists were injured when none of the cars came falling down onto the road, but none were killed
Investigators with the NTSB arrived on the scene of the derailment late Monday night
Friends of the two identified victims say they had just wanted to be among the first on the train’s maiden journey.
Willhoite, 35, had worked at the Washington-based Pierce Transit since 2008. Hamre previously worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation and was involved in the Washington Association of Railroad Passengers.
‘It’s heartbreaking to hear that @PierceTransit employee and rail aficionado Zack Willhoite did not survive the derailment,’ chair of the transit company’s advisory board Chris Karnes tweeted on Tuesday.
‘He helped our advisory committee with IT issues, and behind the scenes he was a writer and advocate for better transit for all. He will be missed.’
A friend paid tribute to both men on Hamre’s Facebook page, saying: ‘As we all knew they would be, Jim and his great friend Zach Wilhoite were on Amtrak Train 501 on the first run over the new route and they were, unbelievably, two of the three killed in the horrible derailment of that train.’
Motorist, Army 2nd Lt. Robert McCoy, was driving his truck down the I-5 when he saw the train cars barreling down towards him.
The railway tracks had been updated for the new service between Seattle and Portland
Train car wheels are seen on the freeway below the track after the Monday derailment
Two semi trucks were damaged in the early Monday morning derailment, in addition to five cars
‘It hit three vehicles that were in front of me,’ he told CNN affiliate KCPQ, adding that he had jumped out of his truck, grabbed a tourniquet and a CPR mask, and headed toward the wreck.
‘There were people yelling. There were people looking for each other, loved ones,’ he said. He found one woman dangling out of the train and helped her out.
Fellow motorist, Daniel Konzelman, an Eagle Scout, also ran to give first aid to the injured passengers.
‘I climbed into the train car that was positioned sideways on the bridge and made sure that everybody in there was stable, and if they could get out, helped them out,’ he told CNN. ‘And if they had an injury, (I) made sure that there was people there to tend to them and stay with them.
‘And (I) just kind of systematically worked my way through the cars until the first responders got there, and probably was able to help, I would say, 15 people get out before the firefighters or police officers arrived.’
After the crash, the injured called out as rescuers – including people who had been in cars on their morning freeway commute – rushed to help. One of the train passengers was Emma Shafer, who found herself at a 45-degree angle staring at the seats in front of her that had dislodged and swung around.
An Amtrak train car that careened off an overpass south of Seattle is hauled away on Interstate 5 Tuesday
Two damaged train cars are removed atop flatbed trailers from the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5
The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off an overpass south of Seattle and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below
‘It felt oddly silent after the actual crashing,’ Shafer said. ‘Then there was people screaming because their leg was messed up … I don’t know if I actually heard the sirens, but they were there. A guy was like, ‘Hey, I’m Robert. We’ll get you out of here.”
Positive train control – the technology that can slow or stop a speeding train – wasn’t in use on this stretch of track, according to Amtrak President Richard Anderson.
Track sensors and other PTC components have been installed, but the system isn’t expected to be completed until the spring, transit officials said.
Regulators have been pressing railroads for years to install such technology, and some have done so, but the deadline has been extended repeatedly at the industry’s request and is now the end of 2018.
Dinh-Zarr said it is too soon to say whether positive train control would have prevented Monday’s tragedy.
Seats are jammed together with other debris on an upside-down Amtrak train car taken from the scene of Monday’s deadly crash onto Interstate 5 Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train that plunged off an overpass south of Seattle was hurtling 50 mph over the speed limit when it jumped the track, federal investigators said. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Two damaged train cars sit on flatbed trailers after being taken from the scene of an Amtrak train crash onto Interstate 5 a day earlier Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. Federal investigators say they don’t yet know why the Amtrak train was traveling 50 mph over the speed limit when it derailed Monday south of Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Tho
A track chart prepared by the Washington State Department of Transportation shows the maximum speed drops from 79 mph to 30 mph for passenger trains just before the tracks curve to cross Interstate 5, which is where the train went off the tracks.
In 2015, an Amtrak train traveling at twice the 50 mph speed limit derailed along a sharp curve in Philadelphia, killing eight people. Investigators concluded the engineer was distracted by reports over the radio of another train getting hit by a rock.
In September, a judge threw out charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment against the engineer, saying the crash did not appear to rise to a crime. Prosecutors are trying to get the case reinstated.
Amtrak agreed to pay $265 million to settle claims filed by the victims and their families. It has also installed positive train control on all its track between Boston and Washington.