KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The four people who were killed when an Amtrak train crashed into a dump truck Monday in rural mid-Missouri have been identified.
The driver of the truck was identified as Billy Barton II, 54, of Brookfield, Missouri, the Missouri State Highway Patrol announced on Wednesday.
The passengers who died were identified as Rochelle Cook, 58, and Kim Holsapple, 56, both of De Soto, Kansas; and Binh Pham, 82, of Kansas City. Cook and Holsapple were declared dead at the scene, the highway patrol said. Pham was pronounced dead Tuesday at a hospital in Columbia.
The Amtrak crash Monday afternoon in Mendon, about 115 miles northeast of Kansas City, left 150 people injured. As of Wednesday, at least 13 remained hospitalized.
The injured were taken from the scene by helicopter, ambulance and private vehicle to 10 hospitals across the state, officials said, including in Kansas City, Columbia and Chillicothe.
Amtrak officials said 275 passengers and 12 crew members were on the train headed from Los Angeles to Chicago when several cars derailed.
A 14-member team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the crash scene Tuesday morning to begin investigating the collision at the uncontrolled crossing.
Mary Schiavo, former U.S. Department of Transportation inspector general, told The Star that the steep grade and condition of the railroad crossing will be the focus of the investigation.
On Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said the agency was beginning its investigation by examining the events leading up to the crash. Evidence gathering was to include a digital download of information from the on-board recording system, Homendy said, which would show factors such as the use of the train horn, the speed of the train before impact and how the brakes were applied.
The safety board did not have any concerns about mechanical issues on the train or the tracks, she said.
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