By Richard Esposito and Hasani Gittens, NBC News
A commuter rail line derailed in New York City Sunday morning, killing at least four people.
Officials said that at least 63 others were injured when the Metro-North train jumped the tracks as it was rounding a curve about 100 yards from a stop. Fire officials said as many as 11 of those injured were "critical."
AP / Craig Ruttle
First responders gather around the derailment of a Metro North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Dec. 1, 2013.
Metro-North said the seven-car 5:54 a.m. diesel train from Poughkeepsie derailed at 7:22 a.m., just feet from the water near the historic Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx, NBC New York reported. It was due at Grand Central at 7:43 a.m.
The locomotive was on the north end pushing the cars southward.
Joel Zaritsky said he was on his way to New York City for a dental convention.
"I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times. Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train," he said, holding his bloody right hand.
At least four train cars were knocked completely on their side, and officials said it would be awhile to assess all of the damage and injuries involved. Early reports said that cars had gone into the Hudson river, but they narrowly avoided plunging into the frigid waters.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the big curve where the derailment occurred is in a slow speed area approaching the station.
NBC News
A commuter rail line derailed in New York City early Sunday morning, killing at least four people.
Dozens of firefighters were on the scene helping pull people from the wreckage. Many people were transported to area hospitals for treatment, said New York City Fire Department spokesman Michael Parrella.
Speaking at the scene, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the train operator was among the injured.
Edwin Valero was in an apartment building above the accident scene when the train derailed. He says none of the cars went into the water where the Harlem River meets the Hudson, but at least one ended up a few feet from the edge.
At first, he said, he didn't notice that the train had flipped over.
"I didn't realize it had been turned over until I saw a firefighter walking on the window," he said.
Steve Kornacki reports on a train derailment on the Metro North Hudson Line in New York.
As a result of the crash, Metro-North Hudson line service was suspended in both directions, and Amtrak service was suspended be tween New York City and Albany, rail officials said.
A senior Metro-North official told NBC News there was no evidence of criminality, but cautioned that it was still early in the investigation. National Transportation Safety Bureau officials confirmed a "go-team" is on their way to the area to launch an investigation.
In July, a CSX freight train hauling trash on the same line derailed near the the same area of the Bronx. No one was injured but questions were raised about the safety of the track design, which has a notoriously sharp turn right before the station.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Multiple people have reportedly been killed after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, N.Y.
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