CIMARRON, Kan. — A passenger train derailed overnight in a rural area of southwestern Kansas, injuring at least 32 people, officials said Monday.
The Amtrak train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago when it left the tracks just after midnight near Cimarron, a small community about 160 miles west of Wichita. Eight cars derailed, four of which ended up on their sides, the company said in a statement.
Daniel Aiken, 21, of Lenexa, Kan., who was traveling with Wilson, said he heard screaming as he climbed out of their overturned car. He stopped to smell a fluid that was flowing through the car, fearful that it was fuel, but was reassured when he realized it was water.
"Once people realized the train wasn't going to blow up," he said, "they calmed down."
Thirty-two people were taken to hospitals for treatment, including 29 who were released later that morning, the railroad said. Ashley Rogers, a spokesman for Grey County, said none of the injuries were life-threatening.
The derailment happened along a straight stretch of track surrounded by flat farmland.
Later Monday, a government official said an engineer noticed a significant bend in a rail ahead and hit the emergency brakes before the train derailed.
The U.S. official who was briefed on the investigation said the train appears to have been traveling at about 75 mph when the engineer pulled the emergency brake, slowing the train.
The official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing federal probe.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.