SMITHFIELD, N.C., May 16 -- Amtrak's Silver Meteor train en route from New York to Florida derailed in North Carolina early Monday, killing a company employee and injuring more than 170 people, including eight who were seriously hurt.
Amtrak officials said the passenger train, bound for Tampa and Miami, derailed about 4:40 a.m. near Smithfield, N.C., 23 miles southeast of Raleigh, after hitting a piggyback trailer loaded with kitty litter that had fallen from a northbound CSX freight train.
'A shift in a trainload of kitty litter, of all things, front-ended this train,' Amtrak President and Chairman Thomas Downs told an afternoon news conference in Washington.
Downs said the piggyback trailer broke lose from a flatbed rail car and landed on the track between Selma and Smithfield, N.C., blocking the southbound Amtrak train. The Silver Meteor, which was traveling about 70 mph at the time, struck the trailer. Two locomotives and 16 of the train's 17 cars jumped off the track.
An assistant engineer on the train, R.R. Woodward, 41, of Laurinberg, N.C., was killed in the accident. Woodward had worked for Amtrak since 1986.
Woodward and the engineer, William Black, 55, of Leland, N.C., had been riding in the front locomotive, which rolled over and 'went up in flames,' said Steven Taubenkibel, an Amtrak spokesman in Washington.
Black suffered head injuries and two broken legs, but still attempted to aid Woodward and to extinguish the fire, Downs said.
Black was listed in critical condition Monday at Duke University Hospital in Durham.
More than 170 people were injured in the accident, Johnston County Sheriff's dispatcher Keven Massengill said. Although most of the injuries were minor, eight people were seriously hurt, authorities said.
Some of the victims were treated at Johnston Memorial Hospital, 3 miles from the derailment scene, or at the Smithfield National Guard Armory or the town's middle school. The most seriously injured were airlifted to Duke University Hospital.
Amtrak said there were 23 crew members and 415 passengers on board the Silver Meteor when it derailed.
In addition to Black, three passengers were admitted to Duke University Hospital. Carl Eppinger, 78, of Barberton, Ohio, was listed in good condition. Wilford Changsie, 39, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Barbara Guthrie, 50, of Clearwater, Fla., were both listed in fair condition.
At Johnston Memorial Hospital in Smithfield, Mary Covington, 73, of Georgetown, S.C., and Anna Flora, 68, of Marco Island, Fla., were both in stable condition. Ernestine Williams, 50, of Waycross, Ga., and Jamais Ghent, 25, of Temple Hills, Md., were both listed in good condition, Amtrak officials said.
An Amtrak investigator was on the scene early Monday. Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration were also investigating.
CSX Transportation Systems, based in Jacksonville, Fla., operates the tracks on which both trains were running. A company spokesman predicted it would take between 16 and 24 hours before the tracks would be reopened.
The Amtrak Silver Meteor travels the Eastern Seaboard, operating between New York City and south Florida. A spokeswoman said the train had left New York Sunday night and was due to arrive in Miami at 8:55 p. m. EDT Monday.
Amtrak's worst disaster occurred Sept. 22, 1993 near Mobile, Ala., when a railroad bridge over the Big Bayou Canot collapsed. Travelers on the Sunset Limited, en route to Miami from Los Angeles, were plunged into the water. Forty-seven people died.
An investigation revealed a tugboat that had taken a wrong turn in fogg had struck the bridge earlier, knocking it out of alignment.NEWLN: (Written by Jeff Bray in Miami, with additional reporting by Daniel Dighton and Jill Lee in Washington)
