Multiple people have reportedly been killed after a Metro-North train derailed in the Bronx, N.Y.
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" and six were in "serious condition."
Carlo Allegri / Reuters
The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx on Sunday morning, coming to rest just inches from the water and causing multiple fatalities and dozens of injuries.
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 train was about half full at the time of the crash, with about 150 passengers, rail officials said. The locomotive was on the north end of the train, pushing the cars southward.
On a workday, fully occupied, it would have been a tremendous disaster," New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Joseph Cassano told reporters at the scene.
A senior official told NBC News that three men and one woman were among the dead: One of the men was found in the first car, one outside of that car, and the third man was found outside the area near the second and third car. The woman was found outside the fourth car.
Passenger 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.
Rider Dennis O'Neil said he believed the train was going very fast before it crashed, throwing him against the window.
"It was coming towards Spuyten Duyvil and you could feel it starting to lean and it was like 'hey what's going on,' and then it hit the curb real hard and flopped over and slid down the hill," O'Neil said. "A couple people were hurt very badly right in front of me."
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.
At least four train cars were knocked completely on their side, and officials said it would take a while 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. But, officials said, the train was not actually scheduled to make a stop at the station.
Some 130 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
"We think everybody is accounted for, we've gone over the site a number of times," Cuomo added.
MTA Chairman Thomas F. Prendergast was asked at the news conference if speed was something authorities planned to investigate.
"That'd be one of the factors,'' he said, adding that the focus now was on the passengers who were injured.
Sources told NBC News that the train's engineer — a "repspeced veteran" with 20 years of Metro-North experience — had made preliminary statements to authorities. His physical injuries appeared to be minor but, the sources said, he was suffering from shock and trauma.
At St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, where at least 10 victims were taken, officials said critical patients had spinal cord injuries and broken bones.
"Most important is to begin with life threatening (injuries)," said Howard Katz, Director of Orthopedic Trauma at St. Barnabas. "People are hopeful and positive — our staff is really trained for this."
Hospital officials said the injured there included a 14-year-old boy and his father, and an NYPD officer on her way to work who suffered broken bones. Sources said as "multiple" off-duty NYPD officers were on the train.
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. The National Transportation Safety Bureau sent a "go-team" to the area to look into the crash.
President Barack Obama was informed of the crash by Homeland Security, a White House official said. "His thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families who lost a loved one and everyone affected by this incident," the official said.
The White House said Obama will continue to stay in touch with New York officials throughout the day.
MTA officials said JFK High School in the Bronx has been established as a meeting area for passengers and their loved ones, and 718-817-7444 is the contact number for those seeking the status of family members who may have been aboard the train.
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.
NBC News' Elisha Fieldstadt, Katy Tur, Tom Winter, Jonathan Dienst and Kristen Dahlgren, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report
This story was originally published on Sun Dec 1, 2013 1:32 PM EST
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