Last Updated Feb 4, 2018 9:27 AM EST
CAYCE, S.C. — At least two people were killed and 70 others injured when a train traveling from New York to South Carolina struck a freight train Sunday morning, authorities said. The crash left thousands of gallons of oil spilled at the scene.
Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill said the trains collided in Cayce around 2:45 a.m. Sunday. Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said the two people killed were both on board the passenger train.
Cahill couldn’t say if the two people killed were on the passenger train or the freight train. He said the injuries ranged from scratches to broken bones.
Amtrak says the lead engine and a few passenger cars derailed on Amtrak 91, which was operating from New York to Miami. The crash happened near a stretch of tracks by a rail yard about 10 miles south of Columbia, where several track spurs split off for freight cars to be unloaded. Authorities said they haven’t determined if both trains were moving or if the Amtrak train was diverted on to a side track.
Lexington County Sheriff’s spokesman Adam Myrick said deputies were taking the uninjured in patrol cars to a shelter.
Eight crew members were on board the Amtrak train, along with approximately 139 passengers. A phone line has been set up for people who have inquiries about passengers, at 800-523-9101.
The aftermath of a collision between an Amtrak train and a freight train on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018.
Courtesy Derek Pettaway / Instagram
NTSB investigators are en route to the scene to commence their investigation. In an early morning press conference, local authorities said that 5,000 gallons of fuel had spilled in the crash, but that hazmat teams had been dispatched and the fuel was thought not to be a danger to the public.
The crash comes several days after an Amtrak train carrying Republican members of Congress hit a garbage truck in Virginia. One of the truck’s passengers was killed in the collision.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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