Montana Amtrak Train Derails; 100 Hurt

An Amtrak passenger train on its way from Chicago to Seattle derailed on the plains of northern Montana Friday, scattering wreckage and injuring more than 100 people, authorities said.

There were no deaths, Valley County Deputy Sheriff Clay Berger said.

“I saw a cloud of dust, and I thought it was a whirlwind,” said Eddie O’Brien, who was sitting at the train crossing in his car as the train passed through the community of Saco, about 50 miles south of the Canadian border. “The signals stayed down,” he said, and that’s when he knew something was wrong.

“They were using ladders trying to get the people out,” he said. “They had people on stretchers. I imagine they were really shook up.”

The emergency room at Deaconness Hospital in Glasgow, 45 miles from the remote derailment site, had treated 80 passengers by 8:30 p.m. and admitted five of those. Spokeswoman Patsy Kruse said 25 others remained to be examined.

She could provide no specifics about the patients’ conditions, but said she knew of no injuries more severe than broken limbs.

The Empire Builder, which was to have continued from Seattle to Portland, Ore., derailed about 115 miles east of Havre about 3:15 p.m., Amtrak said. There were 332 passengers aboard.