NTSB Team On Its Way To Investigate Amtrak Derailment

By Eyder Peralta / NPR

Published May 13, 2015 at 1:09 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Emergency personnel help a passenger at the scene of a train wreck, Tuesday, in Philadelphia.

Teams from the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration have been dispatched to Philadelphia to investigate the derailment of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188, which killed six people and injured dozens more Tuesday night.

Rescue crews worked through the night, but officials were waiting for day break to send in heavy machinery and cranes into the scene. Television images this morning showed several train cars on their sides, another looked completely shredded.

Officials have not yet indicated what caused the derailment.

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Amtrak cancelled service between New York and Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports this is believed to be the deadliest crash on the Northeast Corridor since 1987, when a passenger train collided with a freight train and killed 16 people near Baltimore.

As we reported, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called the scene a "disastrous mess."

"Never seen anything like this in my life," he added. "We have train cars that are on their sides, ripped apart."

We'll update this post with the latest news as it develops.

Update at 7:09 a.m. ET. Six Dead:

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Temple University Hospital Chief Medical Officer Herbert Cushing said that one more person had died at the hospital last night.

Update at 6:44 a.m. ET. The Cause?

Officials have not yet indicated what caused the derailment. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter was asked if the train was going too fast.

"The only thing I can tell you is the the one obvious thing and the one known fact--there is a curve," Nutter said. "We have no idea what kind of speed we're talking about, what else happened out there and I'm not going to speculate on it."

Update at 6:42 a.m. ET. The Latest On Service:

From NPR, here's what service along the Northeast Corridor will look like today:

"On Wednesday, May 13, modified Amtrak service will be provided between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston. There will be no Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia, but New Jersey Transit will honor Amtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton."