From: democrats@fail.us   
      
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   Philadelphia (CNN)Armed with flashlights, firefighters went from   
   car to car early Wednesday morning, looking for passengers   
   inside an Amtrak train that derailed and tipped over in   
   Philadelphia -- killing at least five.   
      
   Another 50 were hospitalized, including six in critical   
   condition, authorities said.   
      
   "It is an absolute, disastrous mess," Philadelphia Mayor Michael   
   Nutter of the crash site. "I've never seen anything like this in   
   my life."   
      
   The Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 was traveling from   
   Washington to New York when it derailed in the Port Richmond   
   neighborhood of Philadelphia about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The impact   
   tore cars apart and left the engine a mangled mess.   
      
   The northeast corridor is the busiest passenger line in the   
   country, and the train was carrying 238 passengers and 5 crew   
   members.   
      
   The cause wasn't immediately known.   
      
   "We do not know what happened here. We do not know why it   
   happened," Nutter said. There was no indication the derailment   
   was a result of an impact with another train, he said.   
      
   So far, there's nothing to indicate the incident was an act of   
   terrorism.   
      
   Early Wednesday morning, investigators in orange vests walked up   
   and down the track, especially near a part where it curves.   
      
   The area of the crash is known as Frankford Junction. In 1943,   
   it was the site of one of the nation's deadliest train accidents   
   when The Congressional Limited crashed, killing 79 people.   
      
   "Until the second of impact, everything was normal," passenger   
   Daniel Wetrin told CNN. "Then it was just chaos."   
      
   The moment of impact   
   Jeremy Wladis was in the very last car, eating.   
      
   "The next thing you know, the train starts doing funny things,   
   and it gradually starts getting worse and worse," he said.   
      
   Then, things started flying -- phones, laptops. "Then people."   
      
   "There were two people in the luggage rack above my head. Two   
   women, catapulted [there]."   
      
   Firefighters arrived to find seven cars and the train's engine   
   either turned over or upside down. Most of the passengers were   
   able to escape, climbing out of windows to safety. Crews had to   
   cut through the cars to get to others.   
      
   'Please make it stop'   
   Janna D'Ambrisi was in the second-to-last car, reading her book   
   when she felt the jolt.   
      
   "Suddenly it felt like we were going a little too fast around a   
   curve," she said.   
      
   The car she was in started to tip and she was thrown onto   
   another girl.   
      
   "People started to fall on us," D'Ambrisi said.   
      
   "I just held on to her leg and sort of bowed my head and I was   
   kind of praying, 'Please make it stop.'"   
      
   Fortunately, her car didn't tip over and she was able to make it   
   out safely.   
      
   Determining why   
   At a news conference around 1 a.m., Mayor Nutter said he   
   couldn't say whether all the passengers had been accounted   
   Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board will   
   arrive at the scene in the morning, and the investigation into   
   what happened will begin.   
      
   The deadliest accident in Amtrak's history took place in   
   September 1993, when a tugboat smashed into a river bridge,   
   causing it to collapse as an Amtrak train was passing over. The   
   accident in Mobile, Alabama, killed 47 people.   
      
   Amtrak shut down rail service between Philadelphia and New York   
   City Tuesday night. It set up a special number for those seeking   
   information on friends and family aboard the train: 1-800-523-   
   9101.   
      
   http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/13/us/philadelphia-amtrak-train-   
   derailment/   
      
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