https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/27/us/victims-of-amtrak-accident-near-mobile.html. All rights reserved (About Us). As television viewers around the world phoned in donations in read more, In the North Sea, the German U-9 submarine sinks three British cruisers, the Aboukir, the Hogueand the Cressy, in just over one hour. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. HAYSTEAD, Suzanne, 22, Britain HEUTE-de-BECELLAR, Claudia Nicola, Brazil HERNANDEZ, Esteban R., 65, Los Angeles HOLTZWORTH, Geraldine, 63, Tallahassee, Fla. HOLTZWORTH, William John, 73, Tallahassee, Fla. LEONARD, Mary Ellen, 84, St. Petersburg, Fla. LESTER, Marsha, 50, Los Angeles MAIN, Lorna, 50, Britain McMAHON, David, New Orleans McNAB, James, 57, Long Beach, Calif. McNAB, Janice, 55, Long Beach, Calif. NEWTON, Eric, 44, Kissimmee, Fla. PEARCE, Billie Patricia, 62, Reynoldsville, Pa. POOLE, Dorothy, Tallahassee, Fla. POOLE, Harold, 68, Tallahassee, Fla. POWELL, Olga, Tampa, Fla. QUAINTANCE, Ronald, 44, Jackson, Miss. Alabama Gov. A locomotive erupted into flames, burning its crew. "The only light was from the fire," Mr. Altosino said, "and it was so hot that I had to splash water on my back to cool off. Most people werent saying anything to me because they were too frightened to talk, he said. Too much time has passed, he said. I took him and shoved him out and hollered for someone to take the baby. Following is a complete list of the 47 people who are known to have died Wednesday in the crash of an Amtrak train near . Ivory, a Texas oil industry worker who helped save Chancey all those years ago, has a theory. Those who did not drown were put in even more danger when a fire broke out. Five other incidents have caused ten or more deaths: a 1987 collision with freight locomotives in Maryland, a 1971 derailment in Illinois, a 1996 collision with a commuter train in Maryland, a 1999 grade crossing accident in Illinois, and a 1977 grade crossing accident in Florida. In 1993, it took first responders an authorities some time to ascertain the full extent of the catastrophe. The stench of the diesel fuel was terrible. By late tonight, crews had rescued 159 passengers and recovered 41 bodies, including those of two crew members, said Ted Lopatkiewicz, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board. CNN An Amtrak train passing through an intersection without crossing gates in rural Brentwood, California, collided with a passenger vehicle, killing three people and causing major injuries. Miles away, Willie C. Odom steered a towboat as it pushed barges up a river that was getting foggier by the mile. 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Watching the Engines Burn, "My watch stopped when I hit the water at 2:55 A.M.," said James Altosino, a 72-year-old passenger who had boarded in San Antonio. Aboard the same train after missing a flight, Ken Ivory lounged nearby. An hour earlier, a 132-car CSX freight train with three locomotives had crossed the trestle without mishap. An Amtrak train derailed in Missouri after crashing into a dump truck, leaving three dead and dozens more injured. At one point, Watts thought he would die. While alligators normally flee a disturbance as big as a train crash, some passengers in the water-filled cars worried about the snakes, which might be more venturesome. 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. [3] After the investigation, he was not found to be criminally liable for the accident. The three locomotives and the first four cars of the train plunged into the water. "And everything went black.". The National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the crash site Tuesday morning. Investigators said 163 people survived. The train derailed due to a set of switch points moving under the train. "Being right there, and bringing 32 bodies out of the water in one day, that's worse than a plane crash, I guess," he said. Mr. Archer noted, as did Secretary Pena, that at least one locomotive had "literally flown through the air. A Georgia couple celebrating their 50th anniversary was among those killed when the train derailed. Bill Crosson of Tallahassee, Fla., and his wife, Vivian, who were passengers in another car, said they barely escaped drowning. Amtrak has operated most intercity passenger rail transportation in the United States since May 1, 1971. The train derailed due to excessive speed on a curve. He said he tried to stay calm as he finally dropped from one of the lower windows six feet down into the water. (AP Photo/Mark Foley, File). No, one of them replied. He just thought, Hey, this is a great game! . It is known for carrying older people who prefer not to make the trip by air or car. Search conditions are very difficult because of the murky waters, said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Suddenly, those three and more than 200 other people were caught up in what remains the deadliest accident in Amtrak history, the derailment of the Los Angeles-to-Miami Sunset Limited in a south Alabama bayou in 1993. The flames engulfed nine vehicles waiting for the train to pass the crossing, killing the truck driver, three people in a van and two in cars. Several minutes later, the Sunset Limited came down the tracks at 70 miles per hour, hit the misplaced tracks and derailed. [1] Following a recommendation to maintain a record of onboard passenger numbers, Amtrak now records passenger lists electronically. He saw four Amtrak crew members standing on the roof of one of the locomotives. "As soon as it got daylight, we realized how bad it was," he said. The list was compiled from information provided by Amtrak, the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences and bureau reports of The Associated Press: ANDERSON, Shirley, 55, Portland, Ore. BALL, Maxine, 69, Gibsonton, Fla. CAMARENA, Nedra, 20, Los Angeles CAMARENA, Jennifer, 3, Los Angeles CASPOLICH, Martha, 40, Long Beach, Miss. But Clifford Black, a company spokesman, noted that the line's 48 previous fatalities since 1971 equaled the number of people killed on the nation's highways every eight hours. Updated on December 20, 2017, 12:59 pm Posted on December 19, 2017, 9:22 am. [4][5], As a result of its investigation of this accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made a comprehensive series of recommendations, on September 19, 1994, to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Amtrak, the American Waterways Operators, Inc., the Warrior & Gulf Navigation Company, the Association of American Railroads, and the American Short Line Railroad Association. Working on a Tug. Two of the disasters 47 victims died from burns. CHANCEY, Mary Jane, 45, Orange Park, Fla. CHANCEY, Geary Lee, 45, Orange Park, Fla. CHILDS, Marianne, 36, Las Vegas CRENSHAW, Lilly Ruth, 63, Tampa, Fla. DIENER, Robert J., 54, San Diego DIXON, Patrick, 78, Apopka, Fla. DIXON, Doris, Apopka, Fla. FURANO, Patricia, 57, Winter Haven, Fla. GALVAN, Sean Scott, 3 months, Bainbridge, Ga. GALVAN, Sheila, 21, Bainbridge, Ga. HALL, Billy Rex, 47, Birmingham, Ala. (engineer) HAMPTON, Penny, 47, Hammond, Ind. Their Amtrak train to Chicago collided with a dump truck at a crossing killing the two women and another passenger who succumbed on Tuesday - 82-year-old Binh Phan, of Kansas City, Missouri. 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. It hit the damaged bridge at speed, with no warning anything was amiss. The train derailed due to a sabotaged switch. Coast Guard and police divers said they could see only six inches ahead. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Two other locomotives followed it into the water, along with a baggage car, a crew dorm car and two passenger coaches. Chancey remembers tumbling as her double-decker coach, Car No. For a while, the smell of diesel fuel took him back to the scene of the crash; he figures his work in oil fields where diesel is abundant helped him tamp down the response. A graduate of Yale University, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and served in the successful siege of read more, On September 22, 1945, Gen. George S. Patton tells reporters that he does not see the need for this denazification thing and compares the controversy over Nazism to a Democratic and Republican election fight. Descended from a long line of military men, Patton graduated from read more. Website Builders; browsers without safesearch. It also propelled the castJennifer Aniston, read more, Glenn Dunn is shot and killed outside a Buffalo supermarket by a man carrying a gun concealed in a paper bag. DOZENS ARE KILLED IN WRECK OF TRAIN IN ALABAMA BAYOU, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/23/us/dozens-are-killed-in-wreck-of-train-in-alabama-bayou.html. Two troops (Troop 73 and Troop 12) consisting of 16 boys (ages 13 to 17) and 8 leaders were on board the Chicago-bound Amtrak train that derailed in Missouri on June 27, 2022. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Were looking at them, he said, because one of those barges has a big dent in it.. On Thursday, thanks to a commemorative cruise aboard Blakeley State Park's Delta Explorer, he took his first look at the bridge over Bayou Canot. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/train-derails-in-alabama-swamp. But ever since the crash, Ivory said, he has always checked on airline flights well in advance. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com ), Twenty-three years after the Sunset Limited crash, there's little to distinguish the bridge over Bayou Canot. He said that on that night in 1993, an emergency call sent him to Saraland, where he joined officers heading out by boat. Below, a small section of a coach peeked up from the surface of the water; next to it, another coach rose vertically from the bayou. Amtrak train collides with vehicle at California intersection without crossing arms, killing three Amtrak had said earlier that there were approximately 243 passengers and 12 crew members. Australians gather outside Parliament building in Adelaide with Z t-shirts as they come out defiantly in support of Moscow and AGAINST Western politicians. FILE - This Sept. 22, 1993, file photo shows the wreckage of the Amtrak Sunset Limited train, north of Mobile, Ala. A barge hit a railroad bridge and minutes later the train hit the bent tracks and plunged into the bayou, killing 47 people and injuring more than 100 others. (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. The family was living in Orange Park, Florida, in 1993 when they boarded Amtrak's Sunset Limited for a trip to visit relatives in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. [1] Odom helped save seventeen people after the crash using the same towboat that had been pushing the barge that hit the bridge.[6]. About 40 people on the train when it crashed had boarded in Los Angeles, an Amtrak official said. The train struck a bridge that had been pushed out of alignment by a barge collision, fell into a river, and caught fire. All three engines and four of the eight cars on the cross-country Sunset Limited plunged off a bridge into Bayou Canot about 11 miles north of Mobile early Wednesday. He didn't immediately see a lot of injuries, he said. The train was running about 30 minutes late because of an air conditioning problem that was repaired in New Orleans. Shown: Tom Russ, at right, looks on as the scene of his brother's death comes into sight. My wife and I didnt get to the same railroad tie, but we kept within eyesight., Every time he looked at his wife, he said, she seemed farther away. NBC News' Tom Llamas speaks with Dax McDonald, a passenger on the train, about. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com ), In a scene from 1993, rescuers work at the scene of the Sunset Limited crash. Were going to die.. It was difficult, he said, to push the ties against the current in the bayou. Im ending my life here. , A woman with a 3-year-old boy shouted from across the aisle. 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. Three men, including two close friends who wanted to be among the first to ride Amtrak's new route in Washington, died Monday after the train derailed. 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. Its crew members were still inside. Three people were killed Sunday afternoon when an Amtrak commuter train smashed into a car in Northern California, authorities said. Paiz was on his way to Miami for open heart surgery. On Monday, it cost Loomis 17+ years of his life. The dead ranged in age from 2 months to 86 years. In the glow from the burning locomotive, survivors--joined by rescuers in helicopters and nearby residents in boats--tried to save as many people as possible. Before long, the fire spread along the trestle and drew closer to wrecked cars. Hours after the accident, one of the sleeping cars still hung from the 50 feet of the trestle still standing. Dopheide helped eight of them through the timber-shattered window. MOBILE, Ala. In the dark of night, three travelers advanced inexorably toward tragedy. He placed most of his emphasis upon the barges. The crew worked for Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co. Andrew Harris, the company's general manager, said Friday the barges were in the bayou to "tie off" during fog. He said the F.B.I. See the article in its original context from. Odom, the towboat pilot, was named as a defendant in more than 90 lawsuits after the crash but never faced criminal charges. The train struck a rail protruding from a work train. "They pulled each other out of that train. The third victim was identified by officials as Zach Schneider, 29, of Illinois. Theres no radios.. Steve Day, left, and the park's director of excursions, Mike Bunn, explained the scenario leading up to the derailment. Investigators were trying to determine if the 84-year-old wood-and-steel bridge over the Bayou Canot collapsed or was damaged before the train began crossing it, or because of the crash. The one-sided battle, during which 1,400 British sailors lost their lives, alerted the British to the deadly effectiveness of the submarine, read more, Long-standing border disputes and political turmoil in Iran prompt Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to launch an invasion of Irans oil-producing province of Khuzestan. Around him Dopheide saw a tragedy. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com), The speed of the Sunset Limited's engines carried them to the eastern edge of the Bayou Canot crossing, in foreground, where they plunged into mud. The collision came a day after a sedan carrying five. Forty-seven people, 42 of whom were passengers,[1] were killed many by drowning, others by fire/smoke inhalation. The Missouri State Highway Patrol has identified the four people who were killed Monday when an Amtrak train struck a dump truck and derailed near Mendon, including a pair of sisters from Kansas. He wondered both why he survived and why he couldn't save more people. The engineer, who was found to have been smoking marijuana, received a five-year prison sentence. One of those barges has a big dent in it, said special agent Chuck Archer in Mobile, Ala. Amtrak's City of New Orleans train was traveling at the legal limit of 79 miles per hour when it slammed into a semi-trailer near a steel plant in Bourbonnais. (Lawrence Specker/LSpecker@AL.com ), The 1993 crash of the Sunset Limited inspired Mobile-area songwriter Charles Cort to write a song titled "A Cross for Lorna," in honor of Lorna Main, a traveler from Scotland who was among those killed. They grabbed wooden debris to stay afloat until more help arrived. He had gotten on in Los Angeles after visiting his sister in Highland Park. An Amtrak train headed to Miami derails near Mobile, Alabama, killing 47 people on September 22, 1993. . 1:23. Riders, many of them asleep when the train derailed at 2:47 a.m. local time, screamed and scrambled through the wreckage. But he saw that it offered a way to escape. The rails were displaced, but unbroken - meaning that a warning system wasn't triggered. The 3,000-horsepower, 240-ton engine flew across the bayou, embedding in about 46 feet of mud on the opposite bank. It had smashed through a window, he said, and was keeping the car from submerging completely. "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.". He said he threw out some duffel bags--but could not find his own belongings. He hasn't worked in the river industry since and has struggled for more than two decades with the guilt and pain of what happened, said brother Morsco Odom -- though over time, his anguish has eased a bit. Were trying to stabilize it because we dont want any more fatalities., When asked whether the engineer of the train had been interviewed about possible causes for the accident, Johnson replied: We believe he is underwater.. The 3,000-horsepower, 240-ton engine flew across the bayou, embedding in about 46 feet of the Limited... Dead and dozens more injured murky waters, said Coast Guard and police divers said could. The disasters 47 victims died from burns some duffel bags -- but could not find his belongings... Liable for the accident carrying older amtrak crash 1993 victims who are known to have died Wednesday in United. 1, 1971 the air by fire/smoke inhalation an Amtrak train headed to Miami derails Mobile... 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