Two adult sisters and truck driver among dead in Amtrak derailment as death toll rises to four

The death toll in yesterday’s deadly Missouri Amtrak wreck rose to four today, while officials confirmed approximately 150 people were hospitalized with injuries.

Two of the victims were adult sisters who were traveling with their mother, KSHB reported. One of the other victims was the driver of the dump truck that the train collided with.

The other victim was also a passenger on the train. Two of the passengers died in the wreck, and the third passed later at a nearby hospital.

Eight train cars were derailed and flipped on their side after the train’s locomotive struck the at a railroad crossing in Mendon, Missouri, while going about 90mph.

In a statement, Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed said that those hospitalized suffered ‘injuries that range from minor to serious in nature.’

Amtrak officials said there were approximately 275 passengers onboard the train, and twelve crew members. The identities of the victims have not been released.

The death toll in yesterday’s deadly Missouri Amtrak wreck rose to four today, while officials confirmed approximately 150 people were hospitalized with injuries. 

Eight train cars flipped on their side after the train’s locomotive struck a dump truck at a railroad crossing

Amtrak officials said there were approximately 275 passengers onboard the train, and twelve crew members

The train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it collided with the dump truck, which was blocking the public crossing over the tracks. 

One of the train’s locomotives was derailed and thrown sideways off of the tracks, and eight of its cars toppled over onto the ground with them. Photos from the wreck showed the dump truck completely destroyed.

State Highway Patrol Lt. Eric Brown said there was still an ‘active and ongoing investigation at the scene’ yesterday evening 

The collision occurred at the uncontrolled Porch Prairie Avenue gravel road crossing, which has no electronic warning devices or gates, officials said.

Three of the victims were passengers – two died in the wreck and the third passed later at a nearby hospital – and the fourth was the driver of the dump truck 

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In a statement, Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed said that those hospitalized suffered ‘injuries that range from minor to serious in nature.’

The ruined carnage of the dump truck can is seen at center with work crews gathered around it

Several locals noted that the crossing was long known for being extremely dangerous, and said that the railroad knew about the danger but did nothing to address it. 

Mike Spencer, 64, said he had long been advocating for safety upgrades at crossings in Mendon, Missouri, where the intersection at Porche Prairie Avenue had been slated for improvements for four months before the train’s collision with the dump truck. 

‘They knew it was unsafe,’ Spencer told the Kansas City Star. ‘That was pretty much a no-brainer… I predicted this was going to happen. I was certain this was going to happen. It was just a matter of time.’ 

Spencer said he had been pushing Amtrak and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) to do something about that intersection for years as farmers cross it daily to get to their fields, urging them to build the road up, add signal lights, or even just clear out some of the brush blocking the view. 

‘In November, nothing was done,’ Spencer told the Star about his latest efforts to get improvements to the intersection. ‘I contacted them, they said, ‘Don’t put any pressure on them. They’re working on it.’ 

‘They never even offered to cut brush back for us so we could at least see,’ he added. ‘I would have done something to fixed it myself if it could’ve been possible.’ 

 

The Amtrak train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it collided with a dump truck at a public crossing in Mendon, Missouri and derailed from the tracks. Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri

According the MODOT’s 2022 State Freight and Pail plan, released on February, the Porche Prairie Road intersection was set to get installation lights and gates, as well as roadway improvements. The work was set to cost $400,000. 

‘This is on the railroad’s shoulders,’ Spencer said. ‘They’ve known this was a problem. It’s like they were concerned, but not concerned enough to do anything.’ 

Fellow farmer Daryl Jacobs echoed Spencer’s complaints, saying that throughout his whole live in the area, that crossing was always ‘very dangerous.’ 

‘It needs arms on it or signals,’ Jacobs, 62, told the Star. ‘It’s so dang steep. I heard that truck just stalled out today going up it. That’s what I heard.’ 

‘And this dang brush along these railroad tracks all needs to be cleared back.’

Work crewman at the sight of the crash alongside the destroyed remains of the dump truck

Several locals noted that the crossing was long known for being extremely dangerous, and said that the railroad knew about the danger but did nothing to address it

A piece of the destroyed dump truck spread across the tracks as passengers can been seen clambering out of and off the train in the background

Survivors have told of the chaos that unfolded inside the carriages as the train left the tracks, leaving them clambering out of the train’s skyward-facing windows

Rob Nightingale said he was dozing off in his sleeper compartment when the lights flickered and the train rocked back and forth.

‘It was like slow motion. Then all of a sudden I felt it tip my way. I saw the ground coming toward my window, and all the debris and dust,’ Nightingale said.

‘Then it sat on its side and it was complete silence. I sat there and didn’t hear anything. Then I heard a little girl next door crying.’

Some parents took to social media to share the harrowing experiences they had when their children called them to let them know that they’d their train had derailed. 

‘Getting a frantic FaceTime call as your child is standing on top of a derailed train is something I can’t even begin to describe,’ wrote Rachael Piche, of Kansas, in a Facebook post. Her 17-year-old, Jordan, was returning from a leadership conference in Chicago. 

‘She is doing ok physically, however she does have a concussion and a strained muscle in her shoulder.’

Dennis Eamon Young wrote on Facebook that his daughter Eireann called to tell him she’d been in the wreck, but had to hang up because her phone’s battery was low. Young was left to watch the news coverage on TV. His daughter was shaken by the accident but mostly unhurt.

‘She was actually OK, except for a stiff neck and being shook up,’ Young wrote.

Passenger Dian Couture was in the dining car with her husband when she heard a loud noise and the train wobbled and then crashed on to its side.

‘The people on our left-hand side flew across and hit us, and then we were standing on the windows on the right-hand side of the car,’ Couture told WDAF-TV.

‘Two gentlemen in the front came up, stacked a bunch of things and popped out the window and literally pulled us out by our hands.’

 A 15 year-old Boy Scout, Eli Skrypczak, made it out of the wreckage and found the truck driver, and comforted him he lay dying. 

 ‘He was pretty upset, he wishes he could have done more,’ Eli’s father, Dan Skrypczak, told the New York Post. 

‘Just trying to explain to him, you get hit by a high speed train, nobody could have done much for the truck driver. He did everything he could, he did the right thing. He provided comfort and aid.’

Survivors of the wreck helped one another out of the skyward facing windows after the collision

Survivors sit on top of the derailed train cars in the moments after the deadly collision

Rob Nightingale, one of the train passengers, went live on Facebook, showing the aftermath of the accident as the passengers awkwardly prop themselves against the side of the toppled over train car, and avoid stepping on glass