Six Travelers Killed-Scores Injured In Washington-Area Metro Train Collision

Six Travelers Killed-Scores Injured In Washington-Area Metro Train Collision at rush hour. The collision on Monday, June 22nd, 2009, was between two Metro trains north of downtown Washington, D.C. It killed at least six people and have injured scores of others, Mayor Adrian Fenty stated.

One train was stationary when the crash happened, according to Metro General Manager John Catoe.

Catoe calls the collision, the deadliest crash in the history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as Metro. One of the dead was the female operator of one of the trains, Metro officials stated.

The crash happened just before 5 p.m. EST, on an above ground track on the Red Line, in the District of Columbia, near the border with Takoma Park, Maryland.

Video footage of the scene showed two cars of one train lying across the cars of another train. Emergency personnel carried injured passengers, some on stretchers, from the wreckage. This video from WUSA shows people who were able to leave the scene of the wreckage.

Seventy people were treated at the scene. 56 of those were with minor injuries, 12 with moderate injuries and two with life-threatening injuries, according to Chief Dennis Rubin of Washington’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, but figures are still coming in.

Both trains were on the same track, and one of them was stationary when the crash happened, said John Catoe, Metro general manager.

officials stated at a press briefing, that the fire department personnel were cutting through the trains to help people from the wreckage.

Six Travelers Killed-Scores Injured In Washington-Area Metro Train Collision and those who want information regarding passengers on the train can call the D.C. emergency line at (202) 727-9099.

See location of crash »

Jodie Wickett, a nurse who was a passenger on one of the trains, said she was was texting on her phone when she felt a bump.

“About 5-10 seconds later, the train came to a complete halt and we went flying,” Jodie Wickett stated.

“I went through some of the cars, trying to help people. There was debris and people pinned underneath. It took about 10 to 15 minutes passed before we saw emergency personnel,” she stated.

It was the second Metro crash to involve fatalities in its’ 33 year history of the transit authority. In January 1982, a derailment killed three people. The only other collision between Metro trains occurred in 2004.

Groups of people wearing green plastic ribbons to show they had been checked by paramedics left the scene about 90 minutes after the crash. Some were crying, and a woman with her arm in a sling who gave her name as Tijuana described the crash as “an earthquake.”

Amy Kudwa of the Department of Homeland Security stated “at this early stage,” there was no indication of anything other than an accidental collision. We will continue to monitor closely and provide support in any way needed.”

For the full story of “Six Travelers Killed-Scores Injured In Washington-Area Metro Train Collision,” go to CNN News.