At least 3 people were killed and 50 injured when a train derailed in the US state of Montana on Saturday.
Amtrak National Rail Company reported that the Empire Builder train, which was carrying 147 passengers, and a 13-person crew between Seattle and Chicago, derailed when seven of its 10 coaches derailed near Joplin, Montana, around 4 pm local time.
Passenger Megan Vandervist, who was on her way to Seattle, said she was asleep and woke up due to a derailment.
She found that the carriage behind her was completely tilted, and the three carriages behind her "fell completely off the rails and were separated from the train."
She continued her speech from the "Liberty County Senior Center" where the passengers were transported, saying that she felt "extremely disturbed" while on the plane that took her to the center, and she and the rest of the passengers were deeply saddened when they learned that 3 people had died in the accident.
For its part, the National Transportation Safety Board sent a 14-member team, including investigators, specialists in railroad signals and other disciplines, to investigate the accident.
It is noteworthy that yesterday's accident is not the first of its kind for Amtrak trains, as it was preceded by several similar accidents in separate years.
On April 3, 2016, two Amtrak train maintenance workers were killed in Chester, Pennsylvania, when the train's main engine derailed.
In October 2015, a commuter train bound from Vermont to Washington, DC, derailed when it hit rocks that fell on the track, knocking three coaches off the track and injuring seven people.
In May 2015, a train derailed when crossing a steep bend in Philadelphia at 50 mph. Eight people were killed, and more than two hundred were injured when the locomotive and four of the seven passenger coaches jumped (and deviated from) the tracks.