(The Associated Press circulated the following on May 28.)
JACKSON, Miss. — An Amtrak passenger train collided with a garbage truck on a rural stretch of central Mississippi track on Tuesday, injuring at least seven people, authorities said.
A fire broke out after the collision, authorities said, damaging the engine. The train’s final car, which was empty, left the track in Copiah County, south of Jackson.
“All of sudden we heard a pop and it felt like we hit something,” Bill Herndon and his wife had just boarded the train in Jackson. “Then I saw a lot of debris flying out my window as we were going past.
“A lot of smoke and flames coming up. Looked like what I think was the fuel tank from the garbage truck ended up underneath the train somewhere and was spewing flames and fuel as we were coming to halt,” said Herndon of Starkville.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said the train left Chicago on Monday night and was due in Louisiana Tuesday afternoon. He said there were 96 passengers aboard the train and 11 Amtrak employees.
“Two of the injured were waste management employees and five were from the train,” said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn.
A University of Mississippi Medical Center spokeswoman, Patrice Guilfoyle, said two people were in critical condition and one was in fair condition. She said she didn’t know which of the patients had been on the train or in the garbage truck.
The remaining passengers aboard the southbound City of New Orleans train were moved to a nearby school and were to be taken to their destinations by bus, Magliari said.
Matt Morning of St. Louis, who was returning to school at the University of New Orleans, said he and another student were eating in the dining car when the accident occurred.
“We were just sitting when all of the sudden we felt this incredible jolt,” Morning said.
He said it felt like the train was going to jump the tracks.
Morning said people came into the dining car and told everyone to stay put.
“They later came back and directed us to the exits. We’re just kind of stranded,” Morning said.
The northbound City of New Orleans was held at the station just as it was set to depart Tuesday afternoon, Magliari said.
Canadian National Railway owns the tracks.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.