derric, it s difficult to tell from the single photograph we have from lexington county. how close to a population center? was this an intersection in a city or how did this crash happened? sure. well, this happened in a relatively rural area but it s an area seen a good bit of growth over the last few years. it s near the south carolina management headquarters and it s near a state farmers market. there is a major interstate that runs knew there, i-26 and i-77. but it happened right near a general area as to where a lot of trains go through there. there is really not a lot of opportunity for them to come into contact with other vehicle, like motor vehicles and that sort of thing. so we have never really had an incident like this at this area before, so our focus right now is on the passengers on that train and making sure everyone is okay.
the breaking news this morning, at least three dead and more than 150 injured. that information from derric becker with the emergency management division there after a train crash in cayce, a suburb of columbia, south carolina. happened at 2:35 this morning. three killed, more than 50 injured. the numbers on your screen. we want to make sure that you understand and in this phase of breaking news situation, so soon after a crash like this, those numbers could fluctuate. the number we received is three dead and more than 50 injured and still a search, we are told, potentially on the train for people who may still be on board. because think about it. this is less than four hours ago that this crash, this amtrak train crashed into a csx freight strain and we don t know if the csx train was moving but the engine derailed on the amtrak
. mary skiavo is with us. talk about train control and what it is and what it does and how it works. positive train controlled is a computerized system that was actually mandated by congress and by the federal rail administration to have been on all trains about a year or two agency, but keep getting extensions. it s a costly system for the train companies to install. what it is is an onboard computer and sensors on tracks which tell the engineers on the trains if there is any any problems on the tracks up ahead. it will also automatically slow the train if the train is in an overspeed situation, if it s exceeding the speed limit. think of it as computerizing the tracks and the trains so they talk to each other and provide information if there is other trains, other rolling stock, work cars on the tracks.
amtrak will be doing and that will come out a little bit later. okay? anything else? all right. we will try to have another briefing as we have more information, but this will be the joint information center and media briefing center so any information about this incident will come here and you guys have our telephone number so if anything comes up, just give us a call. thank you very much. you ve been listening to the latest information coming from the south carolina emergency management division and lexington county sheriff there. the update, the increase of the number of those injured and transported up to local hospitals is 70 now and the description, the range of injuries from small scratches and bumps to severe broken bones. we know that there have been two fatalities reported. we do not know if those are passengers or crew, but this coming from this crash of an amtrak train. train 91 into a csx train there
happened at the front of the train, but could you see the area of impact, where the amtrak train hit or hit this the csx train? no. i mean, the only thing you could really see from my vantage point was it looked like the engine was just on its side. i really didn t see any debris or anything of the actual much much of the impact area. so, derek, we know this is a train that goes from miami to new york. where were you trying to go? and how far are you? where are you going to go now? good question. we were coming from philadelphia. we were actually headed to orlando for vacation. and so now we are here, i think, right outside of columbia, south carolina. and we are here in the shelter right now. we are trying to figure out what we are going to do from here and kind of, you know, what our