At least 103 people were injured in New York City on Wednesday after a commuter train derailed during rush hour.
The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) said the injuries were not life-threatening and patients were being treated in local hospitals.
The Long Island Railroad crashed into a bumper at the end of the track and derailed at its final stop in Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn around 8.20am.
“We believe that the worst injury we’ve heard of at this time is a possible broken leg,” New York governor Andrew Cuomo said at the scene. “That’s what we’re monitoring at this time. A broken leg is not good, but we’ve been in situations where we’ve had worse.”
Emergency crews are loading patients into buses following #atlanticavelirr detail pic.twitter.com/Fz4vI55mEo
— Ivan Pereira (@IvanPer4) January 4, 2017
The six-car train was traveling from the Far Rockaway station in Queens. There were between 600 and 700 people on the train.
Cuomo said the train did not stop at a bumper at the end of the track, but was traveling at a “fairly low rate of speed”.
He said officials did not know why the operator did not stop the train and that there would be an investigation into the incident.
Daniel Alvarez, who was on the derailed train, said passengers were standing in the packed train when it rolled into the station.
“It ran into one of the bumpers and jolted up,” Alvarez told the New York Daily News. “Everyone in the train just went flying. I fell into a woman and she fell into someone else.”
76 non life-threatening injuries reported at scene of LIRR train derailment, Atlantic Terminal Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/rFcimgfK2C
— FDNY (@FDNY) January 4, 2017
New York City mayor Bill de Blasio did not visit the scene of the incident.
“Long Island Rail Road is obviously the purview of the governor,” de Blasio said. “But more importantly, thank God these are very minor injuries.”
The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) said the derailment caused traffic and travel delays near the station, which is also a stop for city subway lines.
About 300,000 people ride the LIRR each week, according to the MTA.
In October, 33 people were injured when a LIRR train derailed after sideswiping a maintenance train in Long Island.
