5 dead in Amtrak derailment in Frankford

FIVE PEOPLE were killed and at least 53 people were injured — six critically — when a seven-car Amtrak train carrying 238 passengers and five crew members from Washington, D.C., to New York City derailed in Frankford last night.

"It's a devastating scene," Mayor Nutter said. "It's unbelievable."

Nutter said the train cars were "completely overturned, on their side, ripped apart." He said that the engine was separated from the rest of the train and that one of the cars was perpendicular to the train.

Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer called the scene "devastating."

"I've never seen anything so devastating," Sawyer told reporters shortly before midnight. He said that there were "injuries throughout the train" and that "most people were able to self-evacuate" but that hydraulic tools were required to remove some passengers.z

The Northeast Regional train derailed about 9:35 p.m. at Frankford Avenue near Sedgley, close to the Frankford Junction rail yard, where there is a large curve. The cause of the derailment remained under investigation.

"We do not know what happened here," Nutter said. "We do not know why this happened."

Around 1 a.m., 20 or so family members of passengers being treated at Temple University Hospital remained in a waiting room at the Temple Student Faculty Conference Center, amid boxes of pizza and crates of Gatorade and bottled water.

Daniel Rudy of Livingston, N.J. was relieved to be taking home daughter Gaby, a George Washington University student, still wearing a hospital wristband as she tearfully recounted the story of her evening.

"They told us we had to run away from the train, in case another train came. So we ran through woods," she said. "I was in the front of the last car. The second it tipped over, it filled with smoke and we had to get out. I was sprinting away from the train. I was with this other girl; she hurt her back, I was helping her."

Daniel Rudy said his daughter was "very, very panicked, crying, screaming," when she called him, about 10 minutes after the crash. "It was as traumatic as you can imagine. I think we're all really sorry for the people who were very badly injured."

A woman in the waiting room who said she lives in Media, but did not want to give her name said she was waiting for her son to be released. She said his only injury was a broken rib.

She said her son, a 29-year-old Brooklyn resident who was traveling home from Washington, called her from the train before help arrived. He had lost his phone in the crash but was able to borrow one, she said.

"He said it was horrible. he said he was all right, but he had to help people who were hurt. He just kept saying that, had to help people who were hurt."

Paul Passamo of Lyndhurst, N.J., was traveling on Train 188 after attending the Police Unity Tour in Washington, D.C. He was in the train's fourth car, which he said "went sideways" during the crash. Passamo said that he saw fire in the first car and that the second car flipped twice before stopping.

"The real injuries are in the first and second car," he said. "I don't know if the people in the first car made it."

Passamo said that the train was "mangled" and that he was launched out of his seat and flew 20 feet from where he was sitting.

Joan Helfman and her son, Max, who are from Watchung, N.J., said the car they were on, the train's last car, tilted over about 45 degrees and filled with smoke. The mother and son said that they had to climb out of an 8-inch opening in one of the doors and that once they emerged, they found that the tracks beneath them were "completely twisted." The two were transported to an area hospital on a bus.

An Associated Press manager, Paul Cheung, was on the train and said he was watching Netflix when "the train started to decelerate, like someone had slammed the brake."

"Then suddenly you could see everything starting to shake," he said. "You could see people's stuff flying over me."

Cheung said another passenger urged him to escape from the back of his car, which he did. He said he saw passengers trying to escape through the windows of cars tipped on their side.

"The front of the train is really mangled,".he said. "It's a complete wreck. The whole thing is like a pile of metal."

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Bucks County was on the train and said he helped people. He tweeted photos of firefighters helping other people in the wreckage.

"Pray for those injured," he wrote on Twitter.

Murphy spoke live on air with 6ABC's Jim Gardner during the 11 p.m. broadcast. He said the train went through 30th Street Station without any problem. He then heard a bang, and the cafe car he was in wobbled side to side.

"It was obviously pretty devastating," he said. "Obviously a lot of mayhem....A lot of blood. A lot of bleeding....A lot of people were freaking out."

Murphy told 6ABC that the train had dropped off U.S. Sen Tom Carper (D-Del.) at the Wilmington station.

A woman named Sharon who lives near the scene on Glenwood Avenue said she was sitting on her stoop last night when the derailment occurred. She said she did not hear the crash but did see a transformer explode when the train took out a pole.

"At first, I thought it was lightning," she said.

Many area hospitals took on the dozens wounded, including Temple University Hospital, Hahnemann University Hospital, Jefferson University Hospital and Einstein Medical Center.

In the aftermath of the mass-casualty incident, Amtrak suspended all service between New York City and Philadelphia. SEPTA suspended its Trenton and Chestnut Hill West lines and said last night that it anticipated suspending service on its Trenton Line throughout the day today and possibly through the rest of the week.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on its Twitter account that it is launching a "go-team" investigation into the derailment and that its team should arrive on site this morning.

Family members seeking the status of loved ones onboard the train were urged to call 1-800-523-9101.

In a statement, Gov. Wolf said: "My thoughts and prayers are with all of those impacted by tonight's train derailment. For those who lost their lives, those who were injured, and the families of all involved, this situation is devastating. I want to sincerely thank our first responders for their brave and quick action. I am closely monitoring the situation and I am in contact with state and local authorities."

The site of the derailment was also the site of a devastating train crash in 1943 that killed 79 people and injured 117 others onboard the Pennsylvania Railroad's Congressional Limited.

Last night, some of the passengers who weren't seriously injured remained at a makeshift staging area at the nearby John H. Webster Elementary School.

Volunteers from across the city came out to lend support, including a group from the Block Church, at Thompson Street and Indiana Avenue.

The church sent a group of about 15 people with cases of Gatorade and bottles of water, as well as towels and other small items.

Other individuals milled about the scene, eager to help.

That group included Rosalind Walker, a Brewerytown native who came to the scene after her night shift at the U.S. Postal Service's headquarters in University City.

"I just came to see if I could help," Walker said. "I don't care what it is: giving people a ride home...I'll go to Trenton if I have to."

She was compelled to come when she heard the news of the derailment on the radio.

She thought of her kids, how they would feel in a situation.

"Imagine you're a teenager trying to get home," she said.

"In times like this, we all should be Good Samaritans."

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.