At least three people died after an Amtrak train got derailed on Monday in Washington state in the United States. Several others were injured, and the toll is expected to rise, Reuters reported.
There were 80 passengers and six crew members on board the train, which was on its inaugural run on a faster route from Seattle in Washington to Portland in Oregon. An investigation showed that the train was moving at 80 mph – in a 30 mph zone when it derailed – and 13 of the train’s 14 coaches jumped off the tracks and tumbled from a bridge onto a major highway.
The National Transportation Safety Board said data recovered from the train’s rear locomotive showed it was traveling at nearly three times the speed limit, but a spokesperson, Bella Dinh-Zarr, said it was too early to confirm whether it got derailed because of the speed, Reuters reported.
Five vehicles and two trucks were involved in the accident, officials said, adding that the highway was littered with fragments of the bridge and tree branches for many hours, according to Reuters. “It was just a scene of chaos and piles of twisted metal,” said Ted Danek, administrator for the city of Dupont, where the train derailed.
Some local officials had reportedly raised safety concerns about the track as recently as two weeks ago.
United States President Donald Trump said that the derailment showed that it was an urgent need to fix the country’s infrastructure.
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