"I haven't taken another train since then," said Ivory. Forty-seven people, 42 of whom were passengers,[1] were killed many by drowning, others by fire/smoke inhalation. Two of the disasters 47 victims died from burns. (Press-Register file), Among those who visited the site of the Sunset Limited crash on Thursday was Tom Russ of Foley, whose brother, Ernie Russ, was one of three engineers who died in the derailment. TRAIN CRASH", "Stockton Train Crash Kills 3, Injures Dozens", "Amtrak, Family Settle Over Fatal Collision", "Man Gets 17 1/2-year Term In 1992 Amtrak Derailment", "Investigators piece together Nevada Amtrak crash", "Sheriff's office: At least 3 killed in Amtrak derailment", "NTSB Investigation of Amtrak Southwest Chief Derailment Under Way, BNSF Track Opens, Lawsuits Filed", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_accidents_on_Amtrak&oldid=1140653481. SPARKS, Nev. (CBS/AP) A Nevada sheriff said six have been confirmed dead a day after a semi-truck slammed into an Amtrak passenger train on a rural highway. Several minutes later, the Sunset Limited came down the tracks at 70 miles per hour, hit the misplaced tracks and derailed. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com), Aboard the Delta Explorer, which usually makes more lighthearted scenic excursions, Capt. A string of crashes involving Amtrak. Mr. Altosino said that before getting out himself, he helped a woman to safety as she floated toward him in the upended coach. They had no idea what had happened." On Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, Tom Russ of Foley finally visited the rail bridge where the 1993 Sunset Limited crash claimed the life of his brother Ernie Russ, an engineer. Immediately prior to the accident, a barge being pushed by the towboat Mauvilla (owned and operated by Warrior and Gulf Navigation of Chickasaw, Alabama) had made a wrong turn on the Mobile River and entered the Big Bayou Canot, an un-navigable channel of water crossed by a CSX Transportation rail bridge. He saw four Amtrak crew members standing on the roof of one of the locomotives. On the other side of the trestle was the third engine, which had pulled the train; it, too, was on its side in the mud, charred and mangled. The crew of the Mauvilla was severely criticized for their actions but escaped criminal liability. As a result, the track circuit controlling the bridge approach block signals remained closed (intact) and the nearest signal continued to display a clear (green) aspect. By Associated Press Sep 25, 1993, 12:00am MDT The last three victims of Amtrak's worst disaster were recovered Friday, raising the death toll to 47 as investigators puzzled over conflicting time logs tracking the Sunset Limited into a foggy bayou. Three people were killed Sunday afternoon when an Amtrak commuter train smashed into a car in Northern California, authorities said. 34083, sailed off the end of the bridge and into the bayou. Eight cars on the train, Empire Builder 7/27, which was headed from Chicago to Seattle, derailed just before 4 p.m. local time near Joplin, Montana, according to Amtrak. But she does remember a few people who got her out of the wreckage, including Ivory, who had decided to take the train to North Carolina to see his wife only after missing a commercial flight. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The pilot, Andrew Stabler, earlier was interviewed by the FBI. The missing crew members were believed to be in the three engines, which were mired in muck and still burning. One lady was holding onto someones belt.. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. It jumped, and everybody started sliding.. 1993 Amtrak crash survivor relives each new one. The Crucial Questions. Out of 220 people aboard, 42 passengers and five crew members died; more than 100 more were injured. The Coast Guard did not arrive on the scene until 4:25 a.m., and it was another hour before the first helicopter arrived to assist in the rescue efforts. The train derailed at a crossover due to an improperly designed signal system. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/train-derails-in-alabama-swamp. The crew of the Mauvilla did not make a rescue call until 3:08 a.m., but did manage to pull seven survivors out of the swamp. All rights reserved (About Us). The train was running about 30 minutes late because of an air conditioning problem that was repaired in New Orleans. The other two engines and three cars have yet to be recovered. The dead ranged in age from 2 months to 86 years. Chancey sometimes wonders why she lived when so many others died. Ivory, too, holds nothing against Odom. The lead locomotive embedded itself nose-first into the canal bank and the other two locomotives, together with the baggage car, sleeping car and two of the six passenger cars, plunged into the water. The engine and two of the train's 11 cars also caught . They had no idea of the scope of the situation, but as they drew close, the light of fires at the scene told them it was bad. (Press-Register file). The crash occurred at around 1 . Accompanied by her parents on her first train trip, 11-year-old Andrea Chancey couldn't sleep despite the steady rocking of the Amtrak coach. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The crash occurred at around 1 p.m . One of the coach cars was covered completely. All Rights Reserved, CREWS RECOVER LAST 3 VICTIMS OF AMTRAKS WORST DISASTER, Grit and circumstance: Bestselling author Angela Duckworth brings her wisdom to BYU, Resolution to nix educations income tax earmark passes the Utah Senate, The starter home in Utah is extinct: How first-time homebuyers could get 20K for new homes, Rape cases involving same suspect wrongfully closed, getting new look after KSL investigation, Mexicans take to the street in protest of President Lpez Obradors new elections bill, How a new service aims to help teens remove explicit internet images. (AP) Investigators probing a fatal 2021 Amtrak derailment in Montana disclosed Tuesday that the railroad track was bent along a curve near the accident site, and the problem got worse as freight trains traveled over the area before the crash. March 17, 1993 Amtrak Silver Star hits gasoline tanker. Her mother "pushed me and I fell and I saw my dad fall and when the water came in it was like, 'Wow," she said. A 1990 derailment and collision with a commuter train in Massachusetts caused 453 injuries but no deaths. HELENA, Mont. Coast Guard and police divers said they could see only six inches ahead. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Investigators said the bridge had been struck by a wayward barge in fog not long before. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com ), Twenty-three years after the Sunset Limited crash, there's little to distinguish the bridge over Bayou Canot. It was a long drop to the water below. But Perkins, the Coast Guard captain, said Thursday a mayday call was placed by Stabler at 3:06 a.m. and was 12 minutes before the wreck. Published: Sep. 22, 2022 at 4:42 AM PDT. But he saw that it offered a way to escape. Working on a Tug. Accompanied by her parents on her first train trip, 11-year-old Andrea Chancey couldn't sleep despite the steady rocking of the Amtrak coach. Its crew members were still inside. Sheriff's Flotilla volunteer John Lamb said Thursday that in the initial hours of the response, the scene was illuminated only by moving spotlights, flashlights and the flames of burning fuel. Its frustrating when you know that there are survivors in need and you cant help.. "I was asleep, and a jolt woke me up, knocked me from my seat, and by the time I awoke, water was coming into the car.". But it was so foggy you really couldn't see the water.". Shortly before 3 a.m. Wednesday, it approached the trestle over Bayou Canot about 10 miles north of Mobile. MOBILE, Ala. In the dark of night, three travelers advanced inexorably toward tragedy. The train struck a delivery truck at the grade crossing. Fire spread to the wood-and-steel trestle. Before long, the fire spread along the trestle and drew closer to wrecked cars. GPS guidance systems and improved radar have made it much less likely that a heavy vessel could hit it, and guides of Thursday's Blakeley Explorer tour said that trains have better warning systems as well. "We were throwing sheets and blankets out of the cars that were still on the track to the people who were wet from being in the water," said Edward Mouton, a 20-year-old passenger from Los Angeles. Sheriffs Flotilla volunteer John Lamb said Thursday that it was hours before rescuers fully realized that some cars had been submerged. Most survivors suffered only minor injuries; seven people were admitted to hospitals. 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The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. The NTSB's chief investigator, Russ Gober, conceded Friday that confusion exists over the accident reporting times, but he said such time differences are "quite common in accident investigations.". "I thought it was the coolest thing," said Chancey, speaking with The Associated Press in her first interview since the accident. Two locomotives and eight cars derailed when the train hit the rear of the truck, injuring more than half of its 275 passengers and 12 crew members, the agency said. It took a jury less than 90 minutes to find Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian not guilty of all charges in connection with the May 2015 derailment of Train 188, concluding years of legal twists over the crash that left eight people dead and more than 200 injured. Aboard the same train after missing a flight, Ken . He climbed through the window and out onto the timber. He said that the company led the industry in 1991 with only 2.81 accidents per million train miles, and improved that mark to 2.39 in 1992 and 1.73 thus far this year. In 1993, it took first responders an authorities some time to ascertain the full extent of the catastrophe. WILSON, John, 62, Lyon, Miss. The Chief, who arrived at the scene by helicopter shortly after the derailment, said, "It was like coming upon a ball of fire in a dense fog. "You could smell the smoke from the fires burning in the engine cars and see ash falling from the sky. To date, it is both the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak . Tom Russ, brother of Sunset Limited crash victim Ernie Russ, speaks on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. Amtrak said it was the worst train wreck in its history. The agency held a public hearing in Mobile, just miles from the bayou, made multiple recommendations to improve safety, and the world moved on. The train derailed due to track damage caused by an agricultural vehicle. There was little panic, he said, as he and other passengers in the car maneuvered their through jammed doors to safety. The location was familiar from news coverage and documentaries, he said, but after seeing it in person, "I feel a little relief." Within two days, three other young men were murdered. Retired Marine Lt. Col. Geary L. Chancey, a pilot and Vietnam veteran, and wife Mary Jane Chancey, a schoolteacher, adopted Andrea when she was only a few weeks old. If not for this delay, the Sunset Limited would have passed over the Big Bayou Canot bridge twenty minutes before the bridge was hit by the barge. A third of the coach car hung over the edge. John Hammerschmidt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, also investigating the crash, said scrape marks on the barge seemed to match scrape marks on the trestle. Investigators said 163 people survived. At the scene of the Sunset Limited crash in 2003, he said, "They let me out on the bank and I crawled up through the briars and rip-rap" with another man to begin assisting passengers. The train derailed due to debris from a landslide. Finally, he said, someone opened a safety exit and the water poured in, cold and fast. On Thursday's anniversary, he visited the scene to drop a cross in the waters of Bayou Canot in her memory. The train derailed due to excessive speed on a curve. Rochelle Cook . [3] After the investigation, he was not found to be criminally liable for the accident. Paiz, who cannot swim, said he admired his septuagenarian seatmate for taking that plunge. Nearly 25 years later, the survivors remember that night vividly: "I smell the oil. Someone did. Ivory, who was honored by the Coast Guard with another passenger, Michael Dopheide, for his life-saving efforts that night, also struggled with the aftermath. It was not known how fast the Sunset Limited was rolling. WALKS, George, 56, West Palm Beach, Fla. WILLIAMS, Julia, 22, Britain. said the information gathered so far supported the theory that the trestle might have been loosened by being hit by the barges. After helping her out a window, he said, he climbed out the window and swam for what remained of the trestle, where he hung on for about an hour, watching the engines burn 40 to 50 feet away. Or was it simply luck? He said the F.B.I. An hour earlier, a 132-car CSX freight train with three locomotives had crossed the trestle without mishap. Did one of her parents lift her out of the bayou waters before drowning, as news reports at the time said, or did God save her for something special? In addition to corroborating findings of the official accident report, the program revealed that the train had been delayed in New Orleans by repairs to an air conditioner unit and a toilet. 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