ET Thursday



An Amtrak train carrying House and Senate Republicans to their annual retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck Wednesday morning near Charlottesville, Va.

At least one person was killed, according to a statement released by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed in a statement that there was at least one fatality from the collision, though it was unclear who that was. The White House released a statement about the accident early Wednesday afternoon: "The President has been fully briefed on the situation in Virginia and is receiving regular updates. There was one confirmed fatality and one serious injury in the collision, the White House said. The fatality and critical injury involved people in the truck, according to Jessica Twohey, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Institute, which sponsors major conferences for members of Congress. In a statement, Amtrak said the train "came into contact with a truck that was on the tracks at 11:20 a.m. in Crozet, Va." It said two Amtrak crew members and three passengers were transported to a local hospital with what were described as minor injuries. But one person is dead and another was seriously hurt, Sanders said, offering the White House's thoughts and prayers for those affected. One lawmaker who was aboard the train, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said the vehicle had been ripped in half and said he saw a person wrapped in tarp and said emergency workers appeared to be "putting a body away." They are both OK.

Rep. John Faso, a New York Republican, who was on the train that crashed, said he was able to see the truck that hit the train, and that he was told that injuries were expected from people in the truck, not the train. “There was (what) looks like a tractor trailer carrying trash that was hit by the train,” Faso, who said he was in the third car of the train, told CNN. Trump told reporters at the White House he had spoken to Ryan and others, and that the accident had been “a pretty rough hit.”

“We don’t have full understanding yet as to what happened,” Trump said. “At least five members of Congress helped firefighters and EMTs (emergency medical technicians) treat the three injured people who had been in the truck.”

The Republican retreat, an opportunity for lawmakers to discuss legislation and politics in the run-up to November’s congressional elections, was scheduled to run until midday Friday. Vice President Mike Pence, who was not on the train, is scheduled to speak to members later Wednesday and President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the event on Thursday.
An Amtrak train carrying Republican lawmakers to a retreat in West Virginia collides with a garbage truck in Crozet, Virginia. At least one person dies and one person is seriously injured. The White House states that there are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff.