COLUMBIA, S.C. �� An Amtrak passenger train traveling an estimated 50 mph ran off a main track Sunday in Lexington County, S.C., and smashed into a parked train, killing two people.
As many as 116 people were injured in the early morning crash in a wooded area near a collection of small neighborhoods west of Columbia. Investigators focused on whether the crash in the Pine Ridge-Cayce area was caused by a misaligned track switch that sent the Amtrak train off course.
As daylight broke, the crash scene revealed a tangle of crushed freight cars and part of the Amtrak train lying on its side.
"It's a horrible thing to see to understand the force that is involved," Gov. Henry McMaster said. "The first engine of the freight train was torn up and the single engine of the Amtrak train was barely recognizable. It was quite a crash."
The two people killed in the train wreck were identified as Amtrak employees, engineer Michael Kempf, 54, of Savannah, Ga., and conductor Michael Cella, 36, of Orange Park, Fla.
Victims injured in the 2:35 a.m. crash were transported to local hospitals for treatment, while those who weren't hurt huddled at an elementary school. Investigators and emergency preparedness officials swarmed the accident scene early Sunday.
Sixty-two of those injured were treated in the Palmetto Health hospital system after the crash, Dr. Eric Brown said at a 1 p.m. news conference. Six people had been admitted for further treatment, including one in critical condition and two in serious condition.
The rest had been treated and released, Brown said. Most suffered minor bumps and bruises, although more serious cases included "solid organ and head injuries," Brown said.
The Amtrak train was on its way from New York to Miami. The crash occurred shortly after a stop in Columbia, according to the state Office of Regulatory Staff.
Tom Allen, who heads the state Office of Regulatory Staff's safety division, said the collision of an Amtrak train with a freight car is unusual in South Carolina. Most Amtrak accidents occur when a passenger train runs into a vehicle or someone on the track, he said.
"For an Amtrak, this is pretty uncommon,'' Allen told said. "We have not in quite sometime dealt with either a train-on-train issue with Amtrak, or even an Amtrak derailment. Certainly, from a passenger rail perspective, it is the worst train wreck in quite some time.''
The National Transportation Safety Board was on the scene Sunday and was collaborating with state railroad investigators to determine the accident's cause.
One issue under investigation is the position of a track switch. Initial reports indicated the switch was misaligned, causing the passenger train to run off the main track, Allen said.
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(Maayan Schechter, Bristow Marchant and Josh Kendall contributed to this report.)
