Missouri Train Derails: There are Approximately 243 passengers onboard. (Representational)
Washington:
Three people died Monday when a long-distance train collided with a garbage truck in the US state of Missouri, leaving multiple injuries among some 200 passengers, local officials said.
“There are multiple injuries and we can confirm there were three fatalities — two on the train and one in the dump truck,” Justin Dunn, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, told reporters at a press conference.
The Amtrak train, traveling on a route from Los Angeles to Chicago, struck a dump truck at a public rail crossing in the area of Mendon, Missouri.
“There are approximately 243 passengers onboard with early reports of injuries,” the company said in a statement, adding that it had dispatched employees to assist local authorities in the response.
Images shared on social media showed at least five railcars on their side in a corn field, with passengers climbing out the windows and doors.
AFP was not able to immediately confirm the authenticity of the images.
The derailment comes one day after another Amtrak-operated train collided with a passenger vehicle at a railroad crossing in California, resulting in three deaths.
The crossing involved did not have guards, and a local fire official said it was not uncommon to have accidents there, the local NBC affiliate reported.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
