Live updates: NTSB investigates Missouri Amtrak crash; locals say they warned of danger

Several cars of an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed Monday afternoon after it struck a dump truck at a crossing in northern Missouri, Amtrak announced.

More than 200 people were on board the train at the time of the crash, which was first reported about 12:43 p.m. near Mendon, Missouri, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Three people were killed in the crash, the patrol said, including two people on the train and one person in the dump truck. A spokesman for the patrol said the total number injured was not known, but Missouri hospitals counted at least 51 patients by 7 p.m.

The train was identified as a Southwest Chief Train 4. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Passengers from the derailed train were taken to the gymnasium at Northwestern High School in Mendon, where folding tables were set up with snacks and food.

Hours after the crash, some passengers sat on bleachers and others at tables across from one another, as police, nurses and paramedics moved about. Others from the community walked around and prayed with the survivors.

Those who escaped injury wore small pieces of masking tape to denote that they did not require immediate medical attention. Several of the passengers gathered at the school were from Kansas City, but others hailed from across the country.

Boy Scouts on train jumped into action after crash

Updated 1:51 p.m. When the train derailed, a crew of teenage Boy Scouts on board got to work helping passengers get out of the overturned train cars.

According to Boy Scout leaders, the teens jumped into action and began helping fellow passengers by administering first aid and getting people out of the cars. Many passengers mentioned the Boy Scouts specifically as the ones helping them before first responders were able to get to the rural location.

A 15-year-old boy who is the senior patrol leader for his troop went to the front of the crash and saw the driver of the dump truck laying outside the truck.

The teen administered first aid to the driver and stayed with him until he died, according to Scott Armstrong, the director of national media relations for the Boy Scouts of America.

The scouts, from Troops 73 and 12, were on their way back from a 10-day trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Investigation of train crash to focus on two things, expert says

Updated 12:50 p.m. The steep grade and condition of the rural Missouri railroad crossing where a Chicago-bound Amtrak train struck a dump truck Monday will be the focus of the investigation into the deadly crash, according to a national transportation expert.

Mary Schiavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, told The Star on Tuesday that investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board will be examining those issues as they search for why Amtrak’s Southwest Chief slammed into the truck as the train was traveling through Missouri on the way to Chicago.

“I think the real problem is going to be the gradient and the condition of the crossing,” Schiavo said. “It was a very steep gradient going up.” Schiavo said the Federal Railroad Administration issues national standards on train crossing gradients.

NTSB to hold news briefing Tuesday afternoon

Updated 12:45 p.m. National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy will hold a news briefing Tuesday afternoon and speak about the Amtrak train crash that killed four and injured 150 people in Missouri, the agency announced.

Homendy’s briefing comes as a 14-member team from the NTSB arrived Tuesday morning to investigate the crash that occurred when the train struck a dump truck Monday at an uncontrolled crossing near Mendon, Missouri, which is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City.

It’s unclear what time and where the Homendy’s press availability will take place but the agency said it would provide an update on Twitter.

Death toll rises to 4; Number of injured climbs to 150

Updated 12:44 p.m. A third passenger aboard the Amtrak train that derailed in rural Missouri has died, raising the death toll in the crash to four, the Missouri State Highway Patrol announced Tuesday morning.

The person had been taken to University Hospital in Columbia but later died from injuries suffered in the crash.

About 150 people injured in the derailment were taken to 10 area hospitals for treatment. The injuries ranged from minor to serious in nature, the highway patrol said in its release. There were around 275 passengers and 12 crew members aboard the train.

A “go-team” of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the scene.

Number injured in crash rises to 75

Updated 11:39 a.m. Since Monday afternoon, the number of patients at University Hospital in Columbia who were injured in the crash rose from nine to 17.

Several of those patients were transported by helicopter, University of Missouri Health Care spokesman Eric Maze said. As of Tuesday morning, some patients had been discharged, though an exact count was not available.

The total number of people injured is not yet known, but as of 11 a.m. Tuesday Missouri hospitals had seen at least 75 patients, not counting known transfers between medical centers.

Pershing Memorial Hospital in Brookfield, about 15 miles north of the crash site, initially took in 17 patients, said Karla Clubine, CEO of the Pershing Health System.

Six of the patients were transferred, including three to University Hospital in Columbia, two to Northeast Regional Hospital in Kirksville and one to Children’s Mercy in Kansas City, Clubine said Tuesday morning. The rest have since been discharged.

One patient was transported by helicopter to University Health in Kansas City Monday.

Local farmer says railroad knew of danger

Updated 8:58 a.m. About two weeks ago, a farmer in northern Missouri posted a video on Facebook about the railroad crossing where the Amtrak train derailed Monday, killing three and injuring dozens.

That footage, which Mike Spencer posted on June 11, showed a train moving down the tracks on Porche Prairie Avenue, southwest of Mendon in Chariton County.

“We have to cross this with farm equipment to get to several of our fields,” Spencer, 64, wrote. “We have been on the RR for several years about fixing the approach by building the road up, putting in signals, signal lights or just cutting the brush back.”

On Monday evening, just hours after an Amtrak train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago struck a dump truck and derailed, the farmer told The Star that the “tragedy” could have been prevented.

“They knew it was unsafe,” Spencer said. “That was pretty much a no-brainer. . . I predicted this was going to happen. I was certain that this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time.

For the past three years, Spencer and others in the community have been in discussions with the railroad, a safety engineer from the Missouri Department of Transportation, a county commissioner and a railroad engineer with the goal of improving safety at the crossing.

Authorities agreed to do something, said Spencer, whose farmland surrounds the crossing. But it hasn’t happened.

NTSB team to investigate crash

Update 8:46 a.m. A 14-member “go team” from the National Transportation Safety Board will arrive Tuesday to investigate Monday’s deadly Amtrak train derailment near Mendon.

The derailment was the second deadly crash involving an Amtrak train at an uncontrolled crossing in as many days.

On Sunday afternoon, an Amtrak train passing through a crossing without gates collided with a car near Brentwood, California, killing three people and critically injuring two others.

None of the 89 passengers or crew on board that train were injured, according to CNN.

Amtrak updates passenger count

Update 8:08 a.m. Amtrak has updated the number of passengers and crew members aboard the Southwest Chief Train 4 when it struck a dump truck and derailed in rural Missouri.

About 275 passengers and 12 crew members were on the eastbound train train from Los Angeles to Chicago when the rail cars toppled off the tracks and onto their side early Monday afternoon, Amtrak said.

“We are deeply saddened to learn that the Missouri State Highway Patrol is now confirming that three people, two passengers and the truck driver, have lost their lives as a result of this grade crossing incident,” Amtrak said in a statement.

“There are also several reported injuries among the passengers and crew members traveling on the train. Amtrak is working with local authorities to make sure those who are injured get medical care and everyone else receives services and transportation.”

The passenger rail service said it was grateful for the support from the local authorities for their response to the derailment. Amtrak said it would fully support the NTSB in its investigation.

Amtrak also announced that the Southwest Chief Train 3 scheduled to depart from Chicago on Tuesday will now originate in Kansas City.

Salvation Army brings ‘emotional, spiritual care’

Updated 8:24 p.m. Volunteers from the Salvation Army Kirksville Corps Community Center provided “emotional, spiritual care” to crash survivors inside the gym of Northwestern High School, said Brian Hoscheit, the group’s corps officer.

The group brought snacks, pasta and bottles of water for survivors of the crash who were left stranded in Mendon.

For emotional care, the group prayed with survivors, he said. Kirksville is about 65 miles northeast of Mendon.

Amtrak official addresses passengers

Updated 8:21 p.m. Mary Bis, senior director of emergency management for Amtrak, told a group of passengers huddled inside the gym of Northwestern High School that the crash was under federal investigation. Passengers would not be able to retrieve anything left on board until investigators allow it, she said.

Bis said each person aboard the train would be assigned a family care liaison to help them travel to their next location. The company was working with the local community to provide hotel rooms for them, she said.

A local doctor was on standby to refill prescriptions for passengers, she said.

Bis told the crowd that she couldn’t answer any specific questions about the crash or its cause.

“I know it’s been a long day, been out of a comfortable environment, and you’ve just survived a really difficult and scary situation,” she said. “…I’m just here to kind of extend, of course, our apologies for the situation that we all find ourselves in right now and provide that assistance and answer any questions.”

‘Tragic loss of life’

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg posted a message on Twitter about the Missouri crash and another train wreck that killed three people in Northern California on Sunday.

“Saddened by the tragic loss of life and injuries in the Missouri train derailment today & Northern California collision over the weekend,” Buttigieg wrote. “I have been kept updated & my team is in touch with Amtrak & relevant authorities. FRA staff are en route to support the investigation in MO.”

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also posted a message, writing:

“My heart goes out to all those affected by today’s horrific train derailment in Missouri,” Pelosi wrote.

“While there are no words that can console those grieving lost loved ones, may it bring them comfort that so many Americans pray for them on this tragic day.”

More than 50 injured arrive at Missouri hospitals

Updated 7:30 p.m. Missouri hospitals counted at least 51 patients from the crash by 7 p.m.

Those who were injured were transported by ambulance and helicopter to hospitals around the state, including University Hospital and Boone Hospital Center, both in Columbia, and University Health Hospital in Kansas City.

Boone Hospital Center received 28 patients, according to spokesman Ben Cornelius, who said the majority of people had “more minor” injuries. He said he didn’t expect any patients arriving at Boone to have life-threatening injuries or be in critical condition.

Nine patients were brought to University Hospital, and multiple had been transported by helicopter, University of Missouri Health Care PR strategist Eric Maze said. He said “that number could continue to go up” as officials assessed more people at the scene of the crash.

Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe, about 45 miles west of the crash site, received seven patients by ambulance, according to spokeswoman Lindsey Stitch. Stitch didn’t have a condition report but said she didn’t expect any of the patients to require transfers to other facilities.

Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, about 35 miles south of the crash site, received six patients, Marketing Director Amy Weber said. Some of those patients had been discharged, and the hospital was working with local emergency management to find them temporary overnight housing in the area.

One patient was transported by helicopter to University Health in Kansas City, according to spokesman Keith King. He didn’t know about the patient’s condition but said in a statement the downtown facility “is a federally designated Level 1 Trauma Center equipped to handle severe injuries.”

Uncontrolled railroad crossings: no lights, no electronic controls

Updated 7:27 p.m. The train crashed at an “uncontrolled” railroad crossing, meaning no lights or moving barriers to warn the public of the approaching train.

“It’s an uncontrolled intersection on a gravel road,” said Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl. Justin Dunn in a news conference after the crash. “So no lights, no electronic control devices, things such as that.”

There are approximately 3,800 public highway/rail crossings in Missouri, but state funding only allows for improvements to around 30 to 35 crossings per year, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MODOT) Office of Multimodal Operations, which oversees rail services in the state.

“Only the crossings with extreme amounts of train and vehicle traffic or other sight distance problems will receive lights/gates because the need is great,” the agency wrote on its website. MODOT did not provide comment after being contacted by The Star.

MODOT’s rail division employs five safety inspectors, who are tasked with ensuring safety at crossings.

The agency recently published a draft of a new plan to address the safety of train crossings in Missouri.

Last year, more than 2,100 train collisions were reported in the U.S., with 237 fatalities from those crashes.

‘No, no no!’

Updated 7:08 p.m. In April, Allen Gallaway’s home in Andover, Kansas, was one block away from getting ripped up by a tornado roaring like a freight train. Now this, an actual train wreck, causing him to fly through the air in a moment he called “surreal.”

“It’s not been a good year for that kind of stuff. It’s like three strikes and you’re out. I don’t want that,” he said, with some levity.

He was headed to Chicago for a National Education Association conference, the first one since COVID. He boarded the train at 6 a.m., four hours later than was scheduled because of delays.

The train was supposed to arrive in Chicago at 3 p.m., but was obviously going to be late.

Gallaway said he was talking with a friend, they had just finished eating. His drink suddenly flew forward.

“We thought the train had stopped abruptly. Then I saw the car in front of us tilting, and we were tilting over. It was surreal. It was like slow motion.

“When I saw what was happening, I just yelled out, ‘No, no no!’ Then it was over.”

People fell on top of him. He was mostly unhurt with a few bumps and bruises. His most present thought, however, is about the people on the train.

“The kindness of people of trying to help each other get out of the train,” he said, “and getting us off the top of the train, and on to the ground.”

He was transported by school bus with scores of others to Northwestern High School, gathering at the gym in town, where they received food and aid.

Many waited for friends or relatives to pick them up, continue their trips. Gallaway is not among them. He called his fiancée. He is headed back home.

“I’ve had enough,” he said.