ABC News
An Amtrak train derailed near Tacoma, Washington this morning, leaving “multiple fatalities” after part of the train careened off an overpass onto Interstate-5 below.
It was the first run on a new high speed route.
At least three people on board the train are dead, but no one was killed on the roadway of I-5 below, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s office. Several motorists on the highway were injured when their vehicles were struck by the derailed train.
In the wake of the derailment, dozens of motorists on the northbound roadway, near Dupont, about 50 miles south of Seattle, sprang into action to help, a witness told ABC affiliate KOMO-TV.
Witness Greg Mukai told ABC News he drove by shortly after the derailment and the “[train] carriage looked like it collided with some cars on the freeway.”
Mukai said he saw smoke everywhere and injured people carried out on stretchers.
Some 75 people were on board Amtrak train 501, which was headed from Seattle to Portland, according to Amtrak and a Washington state Department of Transportation spokesperson.
The Washington State Department of Transportation said the derailment was blocking all southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near Mounts Road in Pierce County.
Amtrak said its service south of Seattle was temporarily suspended.
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