At least three fatalities and dozens of injuries have been reported after a passenger train derailed in Missouri after colliding with a truck.
in the incident, which occurred at 12:42 local time, seven carriages and two locomotives of Amtrak were derailed. Local emergency personnel have been summoned to the spot.
The Los Angeles-Chicago train was carrying around 243 passengers when it derailed at a rail crossing near the village of Mendon.
Amtrak, the U.S. national rail operator, said in a statement that the Los Angeles-bound "Southwest Chief" train impacted a truck that was impeding a public crossing near Mendon, a village of around 160 people located 84 miles from Kansas City.
There were also 12 crew members on board.
Officials from the Missouri Highway Patrol verified that two individuals on the train and one individual in the truck were killed in the crash.
A member of the local ambulance service reported that at least 50 individuals were hurt.
"Everything transpired in slow motion. It began to shake, then flicker, and then - all of a sudden - dust was pouring through my window," said Robert Nightingale, who had been sleeping on the train.
Amtrak stated that its incident response team has been engaged and that additional emergency personnel are being dispatched to the area, where an investigation is now underway.
Social media images depict passengers atop wrecked trains in a flat, grassy area. In one photograph, a woman is seen climbing through a damaged window.
One passenger also tweeted a photo shot at a nearby school, where unharmed passengers were transported after the accident.
This takes place just one day after an Amtrak train collided with an automobile in Brentwood, California, resulting in the deaths of three women and injuries to a number of additional people.
Amtrak trains derailing is an extremely uncommon occurrence; nonetheless, there have been numerous in the recent years.
A train derailed in Montana in September of the previous year, causing the deaths of three individuals and injuries to hundreds more.
In 2018, an accident occurred in which an Amtrak train went onto the wrong track and collided with a parked freight train, resulting in the deaths of three persons.
