3 Die, 150 Hurt as Train Hits Fire Truck

An Amtrak train smashed into a fire truck at a railroad crossing Thursday night and derailed, killing three people and injuring more than 150 passengers. At least two of the dead were in the fire truck.

Both engines and 11 cars of the southbound Crescent, bound from New York to Atlanta and New Orleans, derailed when the collision occurred about 7:40 p.m. in this northern Virginia town about 40 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., said Amtrak spokesman John Jacobsen in Washington.

The train was carrying 379 passengers and a crew of 20, he said. Five cars of the 16-car train remained on the track, said Pat Jeffrey, another Amtrak spokesman.

Two on Truck Die

Two of the dead were on the fire truck, which was responding to a call from the nearby town of Catlett when the accident occurred, said Sgt. Butler Grant of the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Department. It was not immediately known whether the third fatality was also a firefighter.

Fauquier Sheriff’s Deputy R. R. Crawford said 150 or more people on the train were injured. They were transported to nearby Prince William Hospital in Prince William County and Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton.

Dr. Thomas Ryan of Prince William Hospital said the hospital had treated about 26 people, “most minor.” Steve Givens, a Prince William spokesman, said three were in serious condition and the hospital expected a total of 34 injured.