CAPTION ONLY: AMTRAK TRAIN DERAILS IN N. CAROLINA, KILLING 1
SHARE CAPTION ONLY: AMTRAK TRAIN DERAILS IN N. CAROLINA, KILLING 1
Investigators study the track, 40 miles north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, where an Amtrak train derailed before dawn Monday, killing one person and seriously injuring at least four others. More than 170 others were treated for lesser injuries. The Silver Meteor, bound from New York to Florida with about 400 passengers aboard, apparently derailed after hitting a flatbed trailer that fell off a freight train owned by CSX, officials said. The lead engine slid into a ravine after 12 of the 13 cars derailed. A small fire in the engine was quickly extinguished. Many of the injured were in the first passenger car, which flipped onto its side. Most of the passengers likely were asleep when the wreck happened. Johnston County manager Richard Self said the person who died was in one of the engine cars. Among those on board were 43 Florida junior high school students returning from a chorus competition in Washington, D.C. James Powers, assistant principal at their school, Madison Middle School in Miami, said he didn't know if any of them were among those injured.