An Amtrak train that was travelling down a brand new high speed route in washington, which opened literally yesterday, for the first time ever has been derailed. The derailed train has killed several people – at least three, reports say – and sent a number of carriages off the edge of an overpass and raining down onto the busy traffic of the Interstate 5 highway below. It’s been absolute anarchy, like a scene out of a Tony Scott action movie.
The Associated Press has been releasing information about the Amtrak Train crash as it’s been coming in, and they were told a different death count by an American official. Three was reported by CNN after that was the number confirmed by state officials in today’s briefing, while the US official who contacted the Associated Press said that at least six people have been killed in the crash. However, he also confirmed that as the investigation continues and emergency services work to bring the situation to an end, the number of deaths could easily rise.
The train got derailed at around 7:30am local time and it was chaotic.
The train was travelling just south of Seattle, going over a bridge right on top of a busy highway full of cars and people. And it wasn’t just like one or two carriages came off the overpass and landed on the highway – literally 13 out of the total of 14 carriages left the track. Suffice to say, the new high speed rail system was not the success everyone was hoping it to be.
No motorists were killed by falling train carriages
As 13 train carriages rained down from above onto the Interstate 5 highway, luckily no motorists were killed, although five vehicles on the highway were struck by train cars. The whole thing took place just next to Tacoma in Washington state, which is approximately 40 miles south of Seattle, the city that gave us Frasier Crane and Nirvana.
The identities of the victims of the crash have yet to be revealed by officials on the scene, although some of them have contacted the press with eyewitness accounts, so their names are now on public record.
According to Amtrak, the company whose train it was, there were 77 passengers and seven crew members on board the train at the time of the crash, all put at great risk by the derailment. After the crash took place and the motorists below were affected, more than 100 people were taken to the nearest hospitals to have their wounds treated. There’s over a dozen of those patients currently suffering from injuries that range from critical to severe. Local authorities are saying that some of the victims are being rushed into surgery.
Donald Trump responds by reinforcing his own policy
US President Donald Trump has used the crash to shout out for support for his own infrastructure plan, which he believes would prevent such an incident from occurring. The President responded to the crash a few hours after it took place, saying that it made a case for his plan “more than ever” and that his administration’s strategy, which he says is “soon to be submitted” to the powers that be, should be “approved quickly.” Always thinking about his policies.
Trump is unhappy that a total of $7 trillion of the US government’s money has been spent in the Middle East, while the “roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more)” of the United States “crumble!” Then he added, “Not for long!” since the infrastructure plan is coming soon.
Ten minutes after that tweeted, he posted another one when his publicists realised how insensitive towards the victims of the crash his comments had been. So, he tweeted, “Thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.” That’s some good PR people he’s got.