Several people were apparently killed and dozens injured after a Chicago-bound Amtrak train crashed into a dump truck in Mendon, Missouri, on Monday, June 27, 2022, according to reports.
Reports indicate the Southwest Chief, or Train 4, had 243 passengers and 12 crew members on board at the time of the crash, roughly 80 miles northwest of Columbia. It was traveling east on BNSF tracks from Los Angeles to Chicago at the time of the wreck.
Reports indicate eight cars and two locomotives derailed due to the collision.
“Local authorities are currently assisting customers,” Amtrak said in a statement. “Our Incident Response Team has been activated, and we are deploying emergency personnel to the scene to help support our passengers, our employees and their families with their needs.”
Anyone with questions about their friends and family traveling aboard the train should call (800) 523-9101.
“The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will be sending out a go-team to the scene,” Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, said in a news release. “The families here are going to want answers and the experts there will examine every aspect of what occurred in yet another rail tragedy. The speed of the train, who was at the controls, weather issues, signals, tracks, engineering – all will be examined by the NTSB.”
