Bad Wheel Cited in Circus Train Wreck

Investigators focused on a possible broken wheel in the probe of a Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus train derailment that killed two performers, federal officials said Friday.

“A wheel was possibly involved in the accident. We are attempting to locate as many parts of the wheel as possible,” said Jim Hall, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Once collected, the pieces of the metal wheel will be sent to the safety board laboratory in Washington, D.C., for tests, Hall said.

The 53-car train jumped its tracks Thursday while transporting about 200 circus performers and a variety of animals to Orlando for performances scheduled this weekend. One elephant trainer and a woman who performed as a clown died in the wreck.

Circus officials canceled two performances originally scheduled for today, and said they were evaluating the impact of the derailment on their schedule of U.S. performances. The circus depends on trains to transport its animals and performers to show locations.

Eyewitnesses said that a wheel apparently flew off one of the cars just before the accident.

A source with the circus, who asked not to be identified, said the train continued moving for nearly three miles before the affected car hit a switching terminal in the tracks, which may have triggered the derailment.