FRESNO (KMJ/AP) — Three Central Valley Congressmen are uninjured following a fatal train crash in Virginia, when a chartered service hit a garbage truck at a crossing.
“I didn’t fall out of my seat,” explained Congressman David Valadao (R-Hanford). “It was a thump but not enough to really throw anybody around I didn’t think. As the train starts to slow down, and I was in one of the last train cars, I look out the window and I see a garbage truck. A semi with the frame exposed.”
Valadao said that the one person killed was in the truck that was hit, and doctors on the train tried to render first aid.
“One gentleman that was on the floor didn’t look like he was going to make it. I’m hearing now that he has passed. They ended up putting a tarp over him. It was obvious that’s what was going on.
“The other one they were working on for quite some time and brought out a lot of equipment. Once the ambulance showed up and they were able to stabilize him a little bit. They put him on a stretcher, took him over to a helicopter that landed on the other side of us, and loaded him up and hauled him off.”
The lawmakers were on their way to a GOP policy retreat in West Virginia. The annual event is scheduled to last three days and feature both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
“We had to pull off one of the engines off the train,” detailed Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), who was also on board.
“They’re taking us back a few miles to a train station.”
The office of Congressman Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) confirmed he too was on board, and buses were provided to take the lawmakers to their destination.
NTSB is gathering information on Amtrak train accident near Charlottesville, VA. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.
— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) January 31, 2018
The NTSB said it is gathering information on the crash and information will be released as it becomes available. Congressman Valadao downplayed the possibility it being a deliberate act.
“From our perspective, those of us on the train, I never once heard that and never once got that feeling.”
Hear the report from KMJ’s Dominic McAndrew as it aired:
