Philadelphia--A passenger train derailed and overturned late Tuesday in Philadelphia, killing at least five people and leaving a horrific scene of mangled metal and broken glass.
Emergency personnel said 65 people were hurt, six of them critically, after the accident on the train heading from Washington, D.C. to New York. Others walked away from the crash with light injuries.
The train's seven train cars, including the engine car, were crushed, turned over on their side or upside down in the late evening disaster.
One was unrecognizable as a train car, as it lay on the ground in a ruined mass of metal.
As night fell, rescuers with flashlights gingerly scoured through the remains.
"It is an absolute disastrous mess," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told reporters. "I have never seen anything like this in my life."
Officials declined to speculate on the cause of the incident, though some experts suggested the crash may have been caused due to a track defect or wheel failure.
Witnesses said the front of Amtrak Train 188 shook as it went into a turn, and the six cars behind it then went off the rails.
An estimated 243 people, including five crew members, were aboard the train when it crashed around 9:30 pm (0130 GMT Wednesday).
Nutter warned that the casualty and injury estimates were only preliminary, hinting at the potential for a higher toll.
He also would not confirm whether all those aboard the train had been accounted for.
Hydraulic tools had to be used to remove passengers from some of the most badly damaged train cars, firefighters said.
AFP
