4 Killed, At Least 150 Injured in Amtrak Crash in Missouri

Four people died and at least 150 were injured after an Amtrak train derailed in Missouri after hitting a dump truck that had stopped on the tracks.
The train collided with the dump truck at a public crossing near the city of Mendon at approximately 12:42 p.m. CDT.
The derailment occurred about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City.
The Southwest Chief train was en route from Los Angeles to Chicago when the accident occurred.
The train travels “through the vast expanse of the fabled American West. You’ll be mesmerized by this region’s beauty,” according to a statement on Amtrak’s website.
Corporal Justin Dunn, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop B, told reporters on the scene that two of the people killed were on board the train, while the third was in the dump truck struck by the train.  A third passenger succumbed to injuries on Tuesday, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported.
Approximately 150 people were taken from the site of the crash to local hospitals “for treatment of injuries that range from minor to serious in nature.” Earlier, a county ambulance service director had said at least 50 people were injured.
The accident took place at an uncontrolled intersection, one without warning lights or motion gates, on a gravel road that crossed the railroad tracks south of Mendon.
Amtrak said that there had been approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members on board.
Eight cars and two locomotives left the track “after striking a truck that was obstructing a public crossing near Mendon, Missouri,” Amtrak officials said in an updated statement.
The incident was the second Amtrak collision in two days.  On Sunday, a train in California, between Bakersfield and Oakland, “made contact with a vehicle that was obstructing the track in Knightsen,” Amtrak said.
Three people in the car were killed.  None of the 89 passengers on board the train were injured.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)