Officials are confirming at least 4 dead and 63 injured after five cars derailed on a train at 7:20 a.m. in the Spuyten Duyvil section of the Bronx.
It happened at 7:20 Sunday morning at Palisades Avenue and Independence Avenue. The train was the 5:54 a.m. out of Poughkeepsie due to arrive at Grand Central Station at 7:43 a.m.
Five of seven cars went off the tracks and two flipped onto their side, coming dangerously close to the Harlem River.
Authorities say 11 of the injured are listed in critical condition and 6 are serious. The injured have been taken to multiple hospitals.
Firefighters, rescue workers and ambulances have responded to the scene, and some firefighters broke through windows to remove passengers from the train.
A passenger who was on the train, Frank Tatulli, told Eyewitness News he takes the train every Sunday morning, and that it was travelling at a higher rate of speed than it normally does. Tatulli said he got out of the train on his own, and suffered head and neck injuries.
Joel Zaritsky told The Associated Press he was on his way to New York City for a dental convention.
“I was asleep and I woke up when the car started rolling several times. Then I saw the gravel coming at me, and I heard people screaming. There was smoke everywhere and debris. People were thrown to the other side of the train,” he said, holding his bloody right hand.
Passengers were taken off the derailed train, with dozens of them bloodied and scratched, holding ice packs to their heads.
The train came off the tracks just as it was coming around a sharp curve. MTA spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said the curve where the derailment occurred is in a slow speed area approaching the Spuyten Duyvil station.
The black box should be able to tell how fast the train was traveling, Anders said.
Amtrak Empire Line Service is currently being held between New York City and Albany due to the derailment.
The accident occurred on property owned and maintained by Metro-North Railroad, but the Empire Line Service uses those tracks. No estimate for restoration of Empire Line service is available from Metro-North at this time.
Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor service between Boston and Washington is not affected.
State officials tell ABC News there are no indications of criminal conduct or terrorism in connection with the derailment.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is on the scene, and NTSB officials are en route from Washington to determine the cause of the accident.
Cuomo said everyone on the train has been accounted for, and that the driver of the train survived and is among the injured.
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