/ U.S./World News

04/18/2002

By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

CRESCENT CITY, Fla. -- An Amtrak train barely an hour into a nonstop journey to Washington derailed Thursday in northern Florida, killing five people, state police said.

A rescue worker looks for survivors. (CNN Photo)

At least five people were killed, said Bill Leeper, spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol.

"We just started hurtling and left the track and the next thing we knew, we were bouncing off the walls," said Bernie Morgan, traveling from Naples to Doylestown, Pa.

Firefighters, carrying backboards, climbed ladders to reach windows on the railcars and helped dozens of people get out. A makeshift triage center was set up at the site.

The train carried 483 passengers and crew, Putnam County sheriff's Capt. Keith Riddick said. Amtrak said there were 425 passengers and 28 crew members, and the discrepancy could not be immediately resolved.

streaming video
		Watch Streaming Video of the Wreck

About half the passengers were injured, Riddick said, but he didn't know how many had serious injuries. Some of the injured were flown by helicopters to hospitals in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Gainesville.

Ambulances and emergency vehicles crowded a road nearby, and school buses were taking passengers away from the scene. Rescuers painted orange C's on the bottom of the overturned cars once they determined the car was cleared of people.

"Suddenly you could feel the brakes scraping," said David Sheldon, 71, who was traveling from Boca Raton.

He said it took about 30 seconds for the train to come to stop.

"It seemed like forever," he said.

"The girl said, 'Do you want white or red wine?"' Dodd said at the triage center. "At first I said, 'White, no give me red' and that's the last thing I remember."

His wife, Betty, lay on a backboard with a brace around her neck and a cut on her elbow.

Rev. Lamar Taylor, the Volusia County sheriff's chaplain, walked from stretcher to stretcher, comforting victims.

"They're mostly in the state of mental shock," Taylor said. "This is as bad as I've seen."

In Washington, spokesman Greg Martin said the National Transportation Safety Board is sending investigators to the scene. The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.

The Auto Train consisted of 2 engines, 16 passenger cars and 23 auto racks, Amtrak said. It travels between Sanford, and Lorton, Va. and is favored by families traveling between Florida's theme parks and beaches and Washington landmarks.

The tracks are part of a CSX line normally used by 28 trains in a 24-hour period. Another Amtrak train and five to seven freight trains are being rerouted to avoid the area, she said.

Amtrak sent response teams to the crash site, and the American Red Cross also sent teams to the station in Lorton, where the train had been scheduled to arrive Friday morning.