UPDATE: Radio traffic & video from deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia
Below are radio traffic, video and details from last (Tuesday) night’s Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said in a briefing early this morning there are at least five people dead. The incident was reported at 9:28 pm with the Philadelphia Fire Department reporting there seven overturned train cars. In addition to the dead there are at least six critically injured. About 140 others were sent to the hospital for treatment with at least 65 hospitalized. There were 243 people on Train 188, including five members of the crew.
The Philadelphia Fire Department sounded four alarms and declared it a Level 3 mass casualty incident. Numerous passengers were trapped. At this point, a secondary search is now underway.
Amtrak Train 188, bound to New York from Washington with 238 passengers and five crew members aboard, jumped the tracks just before 9:30 p.m. on a curve in a section of the Northeast Corridor known as Frankford Junction.
Listen Live to Philadelphia Fire Department
The area is normally under a speed restriction, requiring trains to slow down as they approach. Determining the speed of Train 188 at the time of the accident will be part of the investigation.
In the moments after the derailment, scores of emergency personnel swarmed over more than a half-dozen toppled train cars, trying to reach the dazed, the injured, the dying.
Some people were reported trapped in the train, and crews cut into the cars to free the injured.
More than 140 people went to hospitals to be evaluated or treated, and six were critically injured.
Officials say 65 people were hospitalized and transported to Temple University Hospital, Area Health Torresdale, Jefferson University Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, and Einstein Medical Center.
15 SEPTA buses were sent in to aid the victims.
Mayor Nutter says the incident required a four-alarm response from the Philadelphia Fire Department with 33 apparatus on the scene and 120 firefighters and other emergency management personnel responding. A total of about 200 police personnel also responded.
“This went to a level three mass casualty incident because of the number of personnel,” said Mayor Nutter.
“Amtrak’s focus right now is on working with the local responders to support all of their needs and make sure the passengers and crew of this train are receiving all of the assistance and attention they need,” said an Amtrak spokesperson.
Amtrak train derailment. pic.twitter.com/fAwU7MFrZC — Jonathan Lai (@Elaijuh) May 13, 2015
