Dozens injured after two trains crash in New York

 

Dozens of people have been injured after two trains crashed in Nassau County, New York, police and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) say.

The first three cars of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train derailed a half mile east of the New Hyde Park station Saturday night after it struck a work train which caught fire afterwards.


The Huntington-bound train was carrying around 600 passengers when it derailed, injuring as many as 29 people, who were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries such as broken bones and concussions.

Also, scores more were evaluated or treated at the scene for scrapes or bruises, officials said.

"Thankfully, early reports indicate that injuries are minimal," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.

“Staff from the MTA and the LIRR are on the scene and will work around the clock to determine the cause of this derailment and restore service as quickly as possible,” Cuomo added.

Some of the passengers, who spoke to local media, said they saw sparks at the windows after the train began shaking before hitting something and coming to a halt.

"So the train was going normally, it was going at its normal speed, and then it started to shake, but that’s sort of normal, and then everyone started to sort of scream – so I realized something was wrong," Lindsay Javitz told NBC 4 New York.

"And the train was really (going) back and forth and shaking … and then I look out the window and I saw a spark or a fire type thing … and then the train abruptly stopped and the car in front of mine was tilted, as if it wasn’t fully on the track."