Amtrak train carrying 243 passengers derailed after colliding with a dump truck at a busy crossing close to Kansas City, Missouri, according to several reports.
Around 1:42 p.m., near Mendon in Missouri, the Southwest Chief Train 4, which was going from Los Angeles to Chicago, struck the truck and left the rails. Amtrak confirmed to DailyMail.com on Monday afternoon.
Amtrak stated in a statement that there were “early reports of injuries,” and that there were 243 people on board at the time of the collision.
Shocking images from the scene show a female passenger being assisted out of a smashed window, while others can be seen perched on crashed vehicles.
Local emergency personnel have responded to the scene.
A crew member who entered her compartment to announce a delay brought up the possibility of fatalities and injuries, according to journalist Nylah Burton, who was on a different Amtrak train headed out of Albuquerque.
She wrote, “I’m stranded in Albuquerque tonight since the train can’t continue any farther. An @Amtrak train just derailed in Kansas City (there are certainly deaths, but they don’t know all the specifics.)”
The frightening images were sent on Twitter by a person by the name of Durand, who wrote: “Oh my.. #Amtrak derailment somewhere in #Missouri.”
One of the passengers on the train tweeted several images of the derailment, then posted that they had taken refuge at a local high school in Mendon, Missouri.
‘So thankful for the people here, safely at the Northwestern high school near Mendon,’ Dax McDonald tweeted. ‘This town pulled together to help everyone.’
Amtrak confirmed to DailyMail.com that multiple injuries were reported, but no additional details were released.
Amtrak tweeted that the Southwest Chief Train 3, which was scheduled to depart Chicago, has been canceled. Amtrak asks passengers to contact 1-800-USA-RAIL for further assistance.
Mendon is about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, Missouri.
One day before to the crash, an Amtrak train collided with an automobile at a crossing in Brentwood, California, killing three ladies and seriously wounding many more.
According to The Mercury News, three ladies, all older than 50, were declared dead at the site of the collision on Sunday.
Around 1pm, according to authorities, the Amtrak train struck the automobile as it was pulling into a long rural dirt lane near the intersection of Orwood Road and Bixler Road.
After then, the automobile veered off the road and collided with another car.
In addition, a toddler, two men, and one other individual all required hospitalization due to significant injuries.
In total, a spokeswoman for BNSF Railway told the New York Times there were ‘approximately’ five people injured, though the number remains in dispute.
Those who who were seriously wounded were rushed to the John Muir Medical Center after the crash on Sunday afternoon, according to ABC News. One of the adults was airlifted and the child was transported by the ground, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The victims were all inside the four-door sedan when it was struck, officials say, and Battalion Chief Craig Auzenne, of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, told reporters at the scene that none of the 81 passenger or five crew members on board the train were injured.
In fact, he said, the train came to a stop about a quarter-mile from where the sedan slammed into an SUV.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing.
But East Contra Costa Fire Department officials say they’d already been called out to that train crossing twice last year because it does not have a traffic guard.
‘It’s a bad crossing,’ Steve Aubert, a fire marshal said, noting that trains travel at about 80mph on the tracks.
‘It’s just a recipe for disaster unfortunately.’