(The NTSB issued the following news release on April 7.)
WASHINGTON, DC — National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Ellen Engleman-Conners has announced that the NTSB is launching a team to investigate yesterday’s Amtrak derailment near Yazoo, Mississippi.
The locomotive and nine cars of the Amtrak City of New Orleans train derailed on an elevated section of single track around 6:30 p.m. (CDT) on Tuesday, April 6. Initial reports indicate one person was killed and several passengers were injured in the derailment.
Ted Turpin, NTSB Investigator-In-Charge, will lead the 12-member team, which will include experts in the areas of track, equipment, and human performance. Other investigators will retrieve information from the train’s event recorder. Traveling with the team is NTSB Vice Chairman Mark Rosenker, who will act as the official spokesperson for the investigation on scene, and Lauren Peduzzi, who will be the Public Affairs officer on scene. Also part of the team are family assistance specialists from the Safety Board’s Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance.