(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 29.)
BLACKWELL, Mo. — An Amtrak train derailed in eastern Missouri after apparently striking boulders on the tracks from a rockslide, officials said. Eleven people suffered minor injuries.
It was not immediately clear how many people were on the train. Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer said it was carrying 130 passengers and crew members, but an Amtrak spokeswoman later said there were 103 people onboard.
The Texas Eagle train, traveling from Chicago to San Antonio, was moving slowly through a winding area when it apparently struck the rockslide late Wednesday, Boyer said. He described boulders about half the size of a car hood on the track. The cause of the slide was not known, but the area had received about 1 1/2 inches of rain earlier Wednesday.
”We’re fortunate the engineer had to slow down,” Boyer said. ”It probably could have been a lot more serious.”
The injured passengers were taken to a hospital while others were taken by bus to a nearby fire house to spend the night. Most suffered neck and back pain, Boyer said.
The derailment happened near Blackwell, about 50 miles southwest of St. Louis. All the passenger cars remained upright, according to Amtrak and local officials.
The National Transportation Safety Board planned to investigate.
Earlier Wednesday, a high-speed Amtrak Acela train plowed into a car at a crossing in Waterford, Conn., killing a woman and her 8-year-old grandson and causing major delays along the Boston-to-Washington corridor.