Two sisters from northeast Kansas have been identified as victims of Monday’s Amtrak derailment in Missouri.
58-year-old Rochelle Cook and 56-year-old Kim Holsapple, both of DeSoto, Kansas, were passengers on the Southwest Chief when it collided with a dump truck at a crossing near Mendon, Missouri. Another passenger, 82-year-old Binh Phan of Kansas City, Missouri, died later at a hospital.
The truck driver, 54-year-old Billy Barton II of Brookfield, Missouri, was killed in the crash.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said 150 people were injured in the crash. Seven cars from the passenger train derailed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters Wednesday that the investigation will involve a number of agencies and it will look at the train and the crossing. She said no problem was found with the brakes on the train and the Southwest Chief was traveling at 89 miles an hour as it approached the crossing, it was traveling 87 miles an hour at the time of the impact. The speed limit for the train at the crossing is 90 miles an hour.
[ photo: Missouri State Highway Patrol – Facebook ]
