Second Amtrak crash in less than a week leaves two dead and more than 100 injured

Two people were killed and more than 100 were injured when an Amtrak passenger train collided with a CSX freight train in South Carolina around 2:34 a.m. Sunday.

The two people who died in the wreck were both Amtrak employees, CBS News reported. It was not immediately clear if they were from the passenger train or freight train.

More than 100 people were transported to local hospitals with injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to severe broken bones, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.

The Amtrak train was travelling on the wrong track, Reuters news reported.

The crash involved Amtrak train 91, which departed from Pennsylvanian station in New York and was bound for Miami when it collided with the CSX train in Cayce, officials from the South Carolina Emergency Management Division and Amtrak siad. The train was carrying 139 passengers and eight crew members.

“The lead engine was derailed, as well as some passenger cars,” Amtrak said in a statement.

How many Amtrak crashes have recently happened?

Sunday marked the second major Amtrak train crash in less than a week.

On Wednesday, an Amtrak train was transporting a group of Republican Congress members to a retreat in West Virginia when it struck a garbage truck in rural Virginia. A passenger in the truck died.

Other fatal Amtrak train crashes have also happened in recent weeks.

On Jan. 16, a man died after his car collided with Amtrak Capitol Corridor Train 532 in Dixon, California. No injuries were reported to the train's 55 passengers or its crew.

On Jan. 14, a pastor and his wife were killed when Amtrak train 89 collided with a SUV that went around a lowered crossing arm in Whitakers, North Carolina.

Late last year, an Amtrak train derailed on Dec. 18 as it made its inaugural trip on a new service from Seattle to Portland, Oregon. It happened as the train was crossing an overpass, and train cars tumbled onto one of the busiest highways on the West Coast. Three people died and about 100 were injured, according to news reports.

Additionally, in June of 2017, two CSX Transportation workers were killed by an Amtrak train in Washington, D.C. that was traveling south toward Union Stattion. The workers were examining a technical issue when they were struck.