Philadelphia train derailment kills six, injures scores of others

Rescuers stand near a derailed carriage of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. Rescuers combed through the mangled wreckage of a derailed train after an accident that left at least six dead, as the difficult search for possible survivors continued.

Reuters/Philadelphia

Rescue workers on Wednesday searched through twisted metal and debris after an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia, while investigators sought the cause of the accident that killed at least six people and injured scores of others.

Authorities said they did not know why the New York City-bound train carrying 243 people derailed at about 9:30 pm Tuesday (0130 GMT Wednesday), sending all seven cars and the engine off the track. One car was tossed upside down and three on their sides, and passengers and luggage were sent flying, survivors said.

Philadelphia-area hospitals and health systems reported treating about 135 people. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said authorities had not yet accounted for everyone aboard the train.

One passenger, Daniel Wetrin, told CNN by phone that he was riding in the last car when it derailed and he was thrown into the aisle.

"Chairs were flying around, people were flying, bags, (it was) pretty chaotic," he said. "There were two people above our heads in the luggage rack."

Moments later, passengers in his car managed to open a rear door and escape, he said, adding he was unaware of any major injuries.

In a video posted on social media, passengers could be heard crying while others told victims to crawl forward.

"It's an absolute disastrous mess," Nutter said. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

The crash of Amtrak train No. 188, en route from Washington, DC with a crew of five, was the latest in a series of rail accidents on heavily travelled passenger train routes over the past year.

The train derailed in the city's Port Richmond neighbourhood along the Delaware River, near the site of a 1943 rail accident that killed 79 people.

Amtrak, a publicly funded national passenger rail line, provided no further details about the accident. It said Amtrak service along its busy Northeast corridor between New York and Philadelphia had been suspended.

Nutter said he doubted the service would be restored through Philadelphia this week.

No terrorism link

CNN quoted the Federal Bureau of Investigation as saying there was no indication that terrorism was a factor in the derailment. Three law enforcement officials told Reuters they had not encountered anything suspicious.

"We do not know what happened here. We do not know why this happened," Nutter told reporters. He later said on CNN there was no indication there had been a collision with another train.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a "go-team" that would investigate the crash was expected to arrive on Wednesday morning.

The crash and the issue of Amtrak funding are likely to come before Congress later Wednesday, when the House Appropriations Committee meets to discuss the transportation budget for the next fiscal year.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN's New Day program that more investments in rail infrastructure is "common sense."

"There is clearly more that can be done when we're talking about a railway infrastructure that is decades old," Earnest said.

 In March, 21 people were injured in Los Angeles when a commuter train collided with a car. A month earlier, 50 people were hurt and an engineer fatally injured when a Los Angeles-bound Metrolink train struck a pickup truck.

In February, six people were killed and a dozen injured when a Metro North commuter train north of New York City hit a car stalled on the tracks. The driver of the vehicle also died.