Amtrak Rubble Yields More Dead; Toll at 15

Rescue workers using cranes and saws today found more bodies in a crumpled Amtrak train that derailed after a high-speed collision with a freight engine, killing at least 15 people and injuring 175 in Amtrak’s worst accident ever.

The collision at 1:30 p.m. Sunday piled three passenger cars atop one another, blocking traffic on the busy Northeast rail corridor at the end of the New Year’s holiday weekend. (Story on Page 5.)

Thousands of Northeast corridor rail riders were forced to find alternate transportation today as the accident forced the cancellation of at least 24 trains, Amtrak officials said.

“We’re not going to have any clear tracks today,” Amtrak spokesman Clifford Black said in Washington. He estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 people from Washington to Philadelphia were forced to find alternate transportation.

30,000-Passenger Average

The Northeast corridor is Amtrak’s busiest route, carrying 30,000 passengers between Washington and Boston on an average day, he said.

In Washington, presidential spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters that President Reagan asked for a report on the crash and was expected to receive it sometime today.

Crews working throughout the night had pulled 11 bodies from the mangled wreckage by 4:30 a.m. today. As dawn approached, rescue workers began finding more bodies. The dead included an Amtrak engineer and a a 6-year-old boy.

By mid-morning, officials had reported 15 dead, then revised the number to 14, before discovering an additional body in the early afternoon.

All Survivors Believed Found

Maj. Robert Oatman of the Baltimore County Police Department said rescue workers were still trying to get to a bottom car in the afternoon, but believed all survivors had been found.

“There is no sign of life left in the car,” Oatman said.

He said officials believed that 317 passengers were uninjured and that identification had been confirmed for 11 of the dead. However, names were not being released.