JOPLIN, Mont. — The passengers killed in Saturday’s deadly Empire Builder derailment have been identified as a tech engineer from Illinois and a husband and wife from Georgia.
According to media reports, the three people killed when Amtrak’s eastbound Empire Builder derailed Saturday afternoon in northern Montana have been identified as 28-year-old Zach Schneider, of Fairview Heights, Ill., and husband-and-wife Don and Margie Varnadoe, residents of southeast Georgia. According to his Facebook profile, Schneider was a senior engineer for a tech company and, according to Patch Media, was traveling on the Empire Builder with his wife. The New Brunswick News reports that Don Varnadoe was a retired real estate agent and Margie Varnadoe was a teacher and administrator in the Glynn County (Georgia) School System.
Saturday’s derailment occurred at about 3:55 p.m. at mileposts 1015.8 between Havre and Shelby on BNSF Railway’s Hi Line Subdivision near the small, unincorporated community of Joplin in north-central Montana, about 150 miles from Helena and about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. BNSF states that the rail line where the derailment occurred was inspected two days prior to the crash.
In addition to the three deaths, Amtrak confirms that about 50 of the train’s 141 passengers and 16 crew members were injured. The Associated Press reports that seven people were hospitalized following the derailment. The train consisted of two locomotives and 10 cars, eight of which derailed with four of the cars overturning. The overturned cars, which include a Sightseer Lounge, two coaches and a sleeper, were on the rear of the train and are part of Empire Builder’s Portland section. The Associated Press is reporting that emergency responders attempted unsuccessfully to cut through the roof of at least one of the overturned cars to evacuate passengers from the wreck who were unable to walk. The evacuation of passengers lasted for about three hours after the derailment.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Railroad Administration are conducting separate investigations into the derailment.
Those still seeking information about family and friends aboard the Empire Builder may call 1-800-523-9101. Amtrak has also initiated its Incident Response Team and established a Family Assistance Center in Great Falls with family assistance liaisons. According to a statement from Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn, personal belongings of the passengers and crew of the Empire Builder will be retrieved once Amtrak has permission to do so.
Train was westbound, not eastbound as stated in this article.
It will be important to know where the three passengers who were killed were riding in the train — coaches or sleeping cars? Improvements to car structures may be necessary for safety.
From the looks of it the car structures seem fairly intact and in part due to some very tough structural guidelines. What you might alluding too is what happened inside the cars? I assume some type of crushing and or even being trapped in such a position that you can’t breath. Really doesn’t take much to hold your chest down and can’t breath.