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Train Derails in Chicago Area; Bush Calls for More Funding to Fight HIV/AIDS; Three Detained in Sean Taylor Murder; Hostage Situation at Hillary Clinton Campaign Offices in New Hampshire

Aired November 30, 2007 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, here live in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, right now.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and I'm Don Lemon.

We have some breaking news. The pictures you're looking at are coming from Chicago. This is courtesy of our affiliate, WLS Chicago. Now here's what our affiliates are reporting.

You're looking at a train which is believed to be an Amtrak train here, a derailment at 47th and Shields, which is on the South Side of Chicago in a neighborhood called Canaryville. This is believed to have happened just a short time ago.

Sorry about those pictures, but we're being told from our affiliates that there are possibly people trapped. And you can see the emergency crews there on the scene, trying to right some of those cars. It looks like they're trying to, as well, get people out of this train.

But again, this is believed to be an Amtrak. And as a matter of fact, you can see, if you take that banner down, right there where the banner is you can see it says "Amtrak" on the side of that train. So it is an Amtrak train.

Not exactly sure. It looks like it may have hit some sort of a freight train or it looks like a freight car that it's on top of there. But again, this is breaking news, coming from Chicago, 47th and Shields in a neighborhood called Canaryville, again on the South Side.

Again, people trapped. Not exactly sure how many, but we're working our sources, our affiliates, as well. We also have a crew on the way to the scene there, trying to get a phone conversation or something from our Keith Oppenheim, who is on his way to the scene.

But again, emergency crews you can see going down the ladder there. And that's -- what it looks like, passengers and crew members who are being taken out of the front of this car. Our affiliate WLS there on the scene. Also our affiliate WGN, as well, will provide some chopper pictures for us.

And sources on the scene are saying at first folks were concerned -- another picture. This is WGN Chicago, an affiliate there. And again, it looks like this Amtrak ran into the back of a freight train. Our affiliates telling us at first it was thought this was a metro train, which is a Chicago train line that runs through the city, and then out to the suburbs. But then word came just moments ago that it was an Amtrak train.

Of course, the trains there in Chicago run along the interstate, right alongside of the interstate. So along with this train traffic you see, there's also traffic here on the interstate that's being backed up, as well.

We will continue to follow this developing story happening from Chicago. A train derailment, Amtrak. And we'll bring you the very latest right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

PHILLIPS: Twenty-five years.

Twenty-five years, 25 million deaths. The story is AIDS, first given a name in 1982. On the eve of World AIDS Day 2007, we're looking back at a horrifying toll. And ahead, to challenges yet to be overcome and communities too much at risk.

Earlier today Don had a chance to talk with Magic and Cookie Johnson.

LEMON: I certainly did. Sixteen years after Magic's diagnosis, Kyra, he gave HIV a name and a face and a platform and it didn't -- that the disease didn't have before. That interview and a lot more today in the CNN NEWSROOM when it comes to World AIDS Day -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Washington is one of many places where World AIDS Day events are taking place. CNN's Kathleen Koch is at the White House -- Kathleen.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the global fight against HIV/AIDS has been one of this administration's major initiatives, so to recognize the day, as you can see, I think, over my shoulder here, the White House has hung an enormous 28-foot long red ribbon over the north portico of the White House.

President Bush traveled to a church in Mt. Airy, Maryland, to meet with a number of groups, some faith-based, some nonprofit groups, active in the fight against AIDS. And Mr. Bush there announced that he and the first lady would early next year travel to sub-Saharan Africa.

And he called on Congress to double to $30 billion the funding for an emergency five-year program that he has initiated, targeting those hardest hit by AIDS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every year American taxpayers send billions of their hard-earned dollars overseas to save the lives of people they have never met. In return for this extraordinary generosity, Americans expect results. So the emergency plan includes specific, measurable targets for progress. It demands honesty and accountability for all of those involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOCH: Since 2001, the United States has spent some $129 billion, both in the United States and abroad, fighting and trying to prevent HIV/AIDS. That's more than any other administration.

And they are seeing some results. According to United Nations figures, the number of new cases of HIV worldwide have decreased this year to 2.5 million. That's down from 3.2 million in 2001.

So while the administration has been praised by some for its efforts and for spending so much, others, some activists have criticized it, saying that when it comes to the prevention funds, that just too much of it is being targeted at abstinence, that they would have even greater success if more money were spent on condom use and needle exchanges, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll be talking about this, obviously, throughout the day with a number of guests joining us to talk about the numbers and the effect of HIV/AIDS.

Kathleen Koch at the White House, thanks so much.

KOCH: You bet.

LEMON: We want to get you back now to the scene of our breaking news here. Look at all of this happening on the ground in Chicago on the railroad tracks there.

This is an Amtrak train that derailed just a short time ago. And from the looks of those pictures, courtesy of our affiliates, WLS and WGN, it appears that this Amtrak train may have run right into the back of a freight train.

This all coming to us from the South Side of Chicago, this neighborhood called Canaryville here, 47th and Shields. This track running along the side of the interstate there. So, causing a lot of chaos in Chicago.

From the pictures that you see there, you see all of the fire department personnel on the ground. We also saw earlier people getting out through the front window of what is believed to be, I guess, the engine of this car and climbing down a ladder.

Now, we were getting some word earlier that there were people trapped, possibly trapped on this train. You can see they're pulling -- pulling out the boards here that they carry folks out on and the stretchers, as well. That's happening on the picture on the right side of your screen. That board appears to be that they put up against the side of the train.

And I'm not exactly sure, if you look deeper into the pictures of the throng of people there, there could be some folks there, as well, on the ground. You see them going in there, again, with the stretcher. PHILLIPS: We're hearing from Larry Langford, actually, with the fire department there. And I said so far even though we're watching these live pictures, that nobody has been taken out on a stretcher, and that that's a really good sign. It looks like everybody is walking, that everybody is OK.

Still don't know, because it's a developing story, obviously, and we're watching these live pictures. But we're told that the engine of the Amtrak train is actually resting on top of the last car of the freight train. The Amtrak had three double-decker passenger cars, according to the fire department.

They are saying definitely this Amtrak collided with a freight train on the South Side of Chicago. But the Amtrak's passenger cars all remained upright, so that's good news.

Officials say they aren't aware of injuries at this point, that one by one they're able to -- they've been taking the passengers off the train. Everybody walking, everybody OK at this point.

LEMON: You see there, Kyra, right in the middle of the track, that appears to be a lady in a wheelchair there, so you can see these are passengers. And they're taking a little girl, carrying her by the hand onto the railroad tracks. Obviously, all traffic in this area, when it comes to trains, has been stopped.

So, as Kyra said, again, as it appears from Larry Langford, who is a public information officer from the fire department in Chicago, it appears that there are no injuries now. But again, look at them. They're going inside on the left side. The pictures from WGN. They're going inside of this fence and carrying people out to safety from this fence.

PHILLIPS: Live pictures from WLS out of Chicago, and also our affiliate, WGN, out of Chicago. The bad news is the Amtrak train collided with a freight train. But the good news is it looks like the passenger cars are all upright. There are no injuries reported at this time. Firefighters are taking individuals out, one by one, out of the train.

LEMON: Kyra -- that appears to be someone they're carrying there. Or no, no, that appears to be someone on the left side of the screen, on WGN. It looks like the personnel are carrying someone out on what appears to be a stretcher.

PHILLIPS: And we're told that the train -- the engine of the train, because of the way it hit, is now resting, actually, on top of the last car of the freight train. We saw a picture of that just a second ago. Actually, you're seeing it here via the affiliate, WGN out of Chicago.

Firefighters are carrying a number of children out from that accident. But the passenger cars do look like they are in good shape, according to Larry Langford with the fire department there.

So, so far we've seen one individual taken away on a rolling stretcher to the ambulance. I'm told about 15 ambulances are responding to this derailment right now. Live pictures from WGN out of Chicago. Firefighters assessing the damage, going car by car, trying to see if each passenger is OK.

LEMON: We're going to continue to follow this, just for a little bit here, because these pictures, really, coming from our affiliates are amazing here. And we don't know the extent.

Having worked in Chicago a couple years ago, the last train accident they had was a metro train, where people were stuck in the tunnel there and really provided chaos for a couple of days there. That accident investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. This one obviously will be, as well.

The initial reports, as Kyra said, no one injured, but we did see the fire crews and emergency personnel carrying some folks away. And these pictures coming from Chicago, Kyra, are just amazing.

We'll continue to follow this, but we have other breaking news, as well.

PHILLIPS: We're following it, too, in the Sean Taylor murder investigation. Breaking news right now. CNN has just confirmed that three people have been detained in the Sean Taylor investigation.

Let's take it now to WSVN, one of our affiliates there in Miami, reporter Rosh Lowe with the latest information.

What do we know, Rosh?

ROSH LOWE, WSVN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me give you a timeline on this. Early this morning, the story broke that Miami-Dade detectives traveled over to Fort Myers, about a two-hour drive from Sean Taylor's home, that they were questioning several people.

About a half an hour ago, we were able to confirm that, in fact, three people were detained in relation to the Sean Taylor murder investigation.

The source close to the investigation tells me that it appears that this was a burglary gone bad. They believe, at least according to this source, that this burglary was related to the November 17 burglary at Taylor's home.

You'll remember here that Sean Taylor was hurt with the Washington Redskins. And he wasn't even really supposed to be in Miami, but he asked for permission to check on his home following that November 17 incident. According to the source close to the case, the suspects here did not -- did not -- believe Sean Taylor was home when they busted into his Paul met too bay house. As we all know now, Sean Taylor was sleeping in his Palmetto Bay house.

In fact, as we all know now, Sean Taylor was sleeping in his bedroom with his girlfriend and his 1-year-old daughter when they heard loud noises. An intruder bust through the bedroom, two shots fired. One shot hitting and critically wounding Taylor. On Wednesday, police director here in Miami-Dade County, Robert Parker, said he believed this crime was most likely a burglary, that it was random. And he vowed that he would catch the suspects.

And now we have this breaking news here that Miami-Dade detectives, as we speak, in the Fort Myers area on the west coast of Florida, they have detained three individuals in relation to Sean Taylor's death.

PHILLIPS: Rosh Lowe with our affiliate WSVN. We'll follow up on the investigation as news breaks in this story.

LEMON: We have breaking news there when it comes to the Sean Taylor case. And also breaking news coming out of Chicago on the South Side. We're going to get you there live now and look at these pictures of a train derailment.

It looks like a train accident. One train on top of the other. They say no injuries. We've seen people being carried out. We'll bring you the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: New information now on the breaking news that we had. You can see investigators and rescue personnel on the scene of this train derailment in Chicago.

The initial reports said no one injured, but clearly, clearly from this video you can see -- actually live pictures coming from WLS -- you can see that they're taking injured folks off of this train onto stretchers and taking them to the hospital.

This all happening just a very short time ago on the South Side of Chicago. And of course, we appreciate our affiliates WGN and WLS for these live pictures from their chopper.

This person being taken off the train. We've seen elderly being taken off. We've seen people who were in wheelchairs. One person who was in a wheelchair being taken off, as well as a child being carried across the railroad tracks.

Now, according to investigators and the PIO there in Chicago, they're telling us that they think no one was injured, but they said most of the damage was concentrated on the passenger train's engine, and the portion of the freight train that was stuck here still upright.

But it appears that this passenger Amtrak train rammed into the back of a freight train and went up on top of a portion of the train.

Now you see the folks here in the front of this engine. We saw them pulling folks out of here earlier, climbing down on the ladder. And I would imagine they were trying to get in here to see if anyone is stuck or to try to retrieve or rescue someone who is stuck inside of this train. Again, the initial reports, no injuries. And you can see crews here working, trying to get access, it appears, with the hammer or with the crowbar or what have you, to get further access to this train car.

This happening -- for those of you who know the Chicago area, it's 47th and Shields. That neighborhood, of course, called Canaryville, to -- to the locals there. And it runs, these railroad tracks, a myriad of railroad tracks here, runs along the side of a myriad of highways, as well.

And also there are -- the commuter lines in the Chicago area, Metra, as well. That's what it's called. Metra runs along these same tracks in the Chicago area.

This time of day, usually the commuter trains are not as stocked with folks as they are during rush hour. But this passenger train from Amtrak comes through now at a time that doesn't appear to be very busy. And that may have helped in this situation.

But it's a very serious situation happening in Chicago. Again, WLS on the right side, providing their chopper shot, WGN on the left, our affiliate, providing their chopper shot, as well.

Larry Langford, the public information officer, we're trying to get in touch with him. And Larry, if you're watching this, we'd like to get more information from you. Give us a call back here at CNN.

And Larry, as a matter of fact, as fate would have it, is on the line now.

Larry Langford, what do we have in Chicago? You're saying, your initial reports are saying no injuries, but we're seeing people being carried off these trains.

LARRY LANGFORD, SPOKESMAN, CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have no reports of any serious injuries of the passengers. We did have the injuries of the Amtrak staff, people that were in the engine, when the engine collided with the freight train that was on this track here at 52nd and Shields on the South Side.

We have, at this time, five serious to critical injuries. We have about 100 passengers who will be looked at, checked out. We have them now categorized now as walking wounded or green. They're in pretty good shape, just little bumps and bruises.

We had to extricate a couple of the people from the engine, the Amtrak staff, and those are our criticals right now.

As far as people on the train, the train cars did not derail, only the engine derailed. The people in the train cars are suffering the shock of the rapid stop. The train did not leave the rail.

LEMON: OK. Larry, as I'm writing information this down, what happened here? Was this a switching problem initially, do you know? How did... LANGFORD: We cannot speculate on what happened. Obviously, two trains were on the same track. A freight was on a track and the Amtrak coming in from Grand Rapids was on the same track, and there was a collision. But it will be up to Amtrak and the NTSB to figure out what happened here.

Our main concern is to deal with those injured, triage them, transport them to get them some rapid medical care.

LEMON: And just real quick, you said this Amtrak train coming from Grand Rapids?

LANGFORD: This is what the passengers are telling us: the train was coming out of Grand Rapids.

LEMON: Do you know, just in case people are watching and wondering about their loved ones here, what is this train number? Do you have any idea, Larry?

LANGFORD: I see the car numbers, but I don't know the train number. And I just can't give you that information. I don't have it just yet. Amtrak will be providing that, I'm sure.

LEMON: OK.

LANGFORD: But these are three superliner cars, about 150 total passengers on board. The vast majority of people are in good shape. Just some serious to critical injuries, mostly the Amtrak staff in the engine.

LEMON: You said 100 to 150 passengers on board. Again, you said five serious to critical? Is that correct?

LANGFORD: That's the way it looks right now.

LEMON: OK.

LANGFORD: We're triaging the people. We have 15 Chicago Fire Department ambulances on the scene under Plan 3. We'll be treating and transporting to area trauma centers shortly.

LEMON: OK. Office of Emergency Management on this, as well. Where does this rank in Chicago when it comes to the seriousness of this nature? The nature of the facts...

LANGFORD: A Plan 3 is always serious. A train crash, a Plan 3, is a serious affair.

We had a Metra crash here a couple of years ago that was also a Plan 3, and we had suburban departments assisting us on that. So far we're not calling any suburban departments in for the assist. It looks as though we can handle this with what we have here available in the city. So it's not as severe as that.

Again, we have passenger cars that are not off the rails, so the force of the cars is not as great. LEMON: OK, Larry. Larry, thank you very much for that. We're going to let you go, unless my co-anchor here has some questions. But as we are looking at this, we're again, Larry, seeing them carry people off of this train, as well.

PHILLIPS: Yes. We're going to keep following this. Live pictures from our affiliates out of Chicago, WGN and WLS.

If you're just tuning in to CNN, breaking news as an Amtrak train collides with a freight train. We're told five serious to critical injuries. They are Amtrak staff.

We're going to keep following this. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in 60 seconds.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're continuing breaking news coverage out of Chicago, Illinois right now. Live pictures from WLS as rescuers, firefighters are taking about 150 passengers out of this train, Amtrak train that collided with a freight train on Chicago's South Side.

We're told that there are five serious to critical injuries. Amtrak staff, we are told. Those individuals were on the passenger train's engine, and they were the ones that have been taken out in critical condition.

Apparently, rescuers still inside the train, going car to car to make sure and assess or make sure everyone is OK and assess the injuries. Five serious to critical right now. About 100 walking wounded, according to the public information officer there with the fire department.

Still trying to extract a number of other critical injuries, we are told, so we're watching it from two perspectives. You see the firefighters bringing out those that can walk and exit those train cars without a problem. Meanwhile, the other set of firefighters are either inside those cars or working to extract the critically injured from this train derailment in Chicago.

LEMON: And you can see there, Kyra, on the left side of your screen, they are bringing folks out.

Can we pull that one full, the one on the left there?

They're bringing folks out of this train, carrying them onto stretchers, this picture courtesy of our affiliate again, WGN. Boy, do we appreciate them helping us out today.

We've seen a number of the same things happen here. Here's what Larry Langford told us. He said the only engine, the only car that derailed was the engine that ran into the back of this freight car. He said most of the people on the train who suffered injuries, suffered injuries from the shock, the jolt of when this happened. So, all of the cars are upright.

And again, they said they had to extricate a number of people from the engine, and they're still working there, as you can see, on the scene. It appears, I guess, whoever was in this engine they have gotten them out, because they have come down on this ladder.

So the picture you see full there, WGN. We can go back to our WLS picture, as well. Our affiliate WLS helping us out, as well.

Larry Langford, who was on the line just moments ago, mentioned a train derailment in Chicago a couple years ago. That one involved a Metra train, where it was stuck inside of a tunnel. People had to be carried out of the tunnel. They had smoke inhalation, what have you.

Fortunately, this time, it's not a Metra train. It is an Amtrak train. It's not in a tunnel, and so they are able to get to people quickly here.

Let's take a listen. Larry Langford joined us just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LANGFORD: We had no reports of any serious injuries of the passengers. We did have injuries of the Amtrak staff, the people that were in the engine when the engine collided with the freight train that was on this track here at 52nd and Shields on the South Side.

We have at this time five serious to critical injuries. We have about 100 passengers who will be looked at, checked out. We have them categorized now as walking wounded or green. They're in pretty good shape, just little bumps and bruises.

We had to extricate a couple of the people from the engine, the Amtrak staff, and those are our criticals right now.

As far as people on the train, the train cars did not derail. Only the engine derailed. The people in the train cars are suffering the shock of the rapid stop. The train did not leave the rail.

LEMON: OK, Larry, as I'm writing information down, what happened here? Was this a switching problem initially, do you know? How did this...

LANGFORD: We cannot speculate what happened. Obviously, two trains were on the same track. A freight was on the -- was on a track and the Amtrak coming in from Grand Rapids was on the same track. And there was a collision. But it will be up to Amtrak and the NTSB to figure out what happened here.

Our main concern is to deal with those injured, triage them, transport them to get them some rapid medical care.

LEMON: And just real quick, you said this Amtrak train coming from Grand Rapids?

LANGFORD: This is what the passengers are telling us: the train was coming out of Grand Rapids.

LEMON: Do you know, just in case people are watching and wondering about their loved ones here, what is this train number? Do you have any idea, Larry?

LANGFORD: I see the car numbers, but I don't know the train number. And I just can't give you that information. I don't have it just yet. Amtrak will be providing that, I'm sure.

LEMON: OK.

LANGFORD: But these are three superliner cars, about 150 total passengers on board. The vast majority of people are in good shape. Just some serious to critical injuries, mostly the Amtrak staff in the engine.

LEMON: You said 100 to 150 passengers on board. Again, you said five serious to critical? Is that correct?

LANGFORD: That's the way it looks right now.

LEMON: OK.

LANGFORD: We're still triaging the people. We have 15 Chicago Fire Department ambulances on the scene under Plan 3. We'll be treating and transporting to area trauma centers shortly.

LEMON: OK. Office of Emergency Management on this, as well. Where does this rank in Chicago when it comes to the seriousness of this nature? The nature of the facts...

LANGFORD: A Plan 3 is always serious. A train crash, a Plan 3, is a serious affair.

We had a Metra crash here a couple of years ago that was also a Plan 3, and we had suburban departments assisting us on that. So far we're not calling any suburban departments in for the assist. It looks as though we can handle this with what we have here available in the city. So it's not as severe as that.

Again, we have passenger cars that are not off the rails, so the force of the cars is not as great.

LEMON: OK, Larry. Larry, thank you very much for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was Larry Langford from the Chicago Fire Department, the public information officer.

And CNN is also learning now that the train number is 371, Amtrak train No. 371 from Grand Rapids, rolling through the Chicago area just a short time ago.

And Kyra, we saw -- we heard Larry talk about those triage areas. And we saw earlier from one of our affiliates' chopper shots there, those yellow and red tarps that they were placing on the ground. You can see where they were putting the folks who -- as he called them -- the walking wounded, taking them to before the hospital.

PHILLIPS: And this is where the critical injuries took place, right here, the engine car. You heard Larry say that they've got five serious to critical type injuries, and they were concentrated here in the passenger train's engine. You can see it resting on top of the freight train.

So you can just imagine how fast the train is going, and then it comes to a sudden stop. We're told it was -- it was a very fast, quick, hard stop, which caused the injuries, and the most critical coming out of that passenger train's engine.

They have been transported immediately to the hospital. About 15 ambulances, we're told, on the scene. There's about 100 walking wounded, as Larry referred to them as. Meaning they've got some cuts and scrapes, bumps and bruises. But you can see, they're bringing in buses already to get those passengers.

About 150 passengers, we're told, were on this Train No. 371 out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Forty-seventh and Shields is the location of where this happened. And Larry made an interesting point that the train didn't derail; only that one car did, the one passenger train's engine car. That was the one that derailed. The rest of them didn't.

So now firefighters, as you can see, are trying to get luggage out, get those passengers to safety as those critical to serious injuries have immediately been rushed to the hospital.

We're working this story. We're told, too, that possibly they might be extracting some others from that front car. We're not sure yet.

But we'd like your I-Reports. If you're there, you're close to the scene, you can take pictures or video, please go to CNN.com/IReport. Send us your photos and videos. We'd like you to get you telling us first-hand what's going on there.

LEMON: Yes, absolutely, Kyra. And then if you go to CNN.com there's a big I-Report icon there, so you can't miss it. You can click right onto it.

This -- also this -- if we can take the other picture, you can see this is very close to a neighborhood here called Canaryville. As Larry said, it's 47th to about 52nd and Shields on the South Side of Chicago. So, the folks who are in those homes there really have a great view of what's going on. Sadly, you know, this happening right in their neighborhood.

But if you are in the area and you do have a cell phone, or if you've got a camera, what have you, or you can just call into us, we'd be more than happy to take the information from you. That bus that you see there on the lower left hand of your screen, a CTA bus, Chicago Transit Authority bus coming there to help get some of the people who are not -- who are not injured and can leave the scene, to take them to a place where they can get to where they are going.

Again, from our Chicago bureau, one of the CNN bureaus there, our worldwide resources here, confirming that this Amtrak train is train No. 371, 371, rolling through the Chicago area from Grand Rapids.

The picture on the left there, Scotty, take that full. This is the triage area. If you can see that, this is where they are taking those people. You see the stretchers they have there on the red tarps, and then they've got the yellow tarps down below. All those people will be loaded onto this, this area. Probably those that don't have to get into the ambulances right away will be taken here. Checked out before they are sent on to the hospital wherever they have to go to be treated. That's a triage area, Kyra, that Larry Langford talked about.

Again, Scotty, if we can take that split, this is what that is for. This train right here, this train accident and the people they are carrying off on the live picture to the right of your screen, Chicago Fire Department personnel carrying these folks either to the triage area or directly, Kyra, to an ambulance so they can get them to the hospital.

PHILLIPS: And if you're just tuning in you're watching breaking news here out of Chicago, Illinois. This is the Canaryville neighborhood, 47th and Shields area, right there in a residential area. Apparently an Amtrak train collided with a freight train on Chicago's south side there. The passenger cars remained upright, where the damage, the hard core damage occurred and where those critical injuries occurred were with Amtrak employees that were in the passenger train's engine, and you'll be able to see that in a minute as we're taking live pictures from our affiliates.

But basically that passenger train engine car is on top of that freight train. Witnesses there said there were two trains on the same track. Not sure what happened. There you go. You can see it right there. That's where the critical injuries occurred. You can see the other parts of that train, though, remained intact. They're upright on the track, and that's where the walking wounded, as they're calling it, have been able to come out of those other cars, minor cuts and bruises, bumps. Apparently when the two trains collided it was just a sudden hard stop, and that thrust is what caused the majority of the injured as firefighters are bringing those out. Less critical injuries.

The five that suffered critical injuries. They are Amtrak employees, we're told. they were in the train's engine passenger car. They have been rushed to the hospital. Number 371 is the name of that train. It was coming out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's the Canaryville neighborhood. You can see the engine of the Amtrak train. It's sort of resting on top of that last car of the freight train where it collided. The Amtrak had three double-decker passenger car, about 150 passengers, we're told, suffering a very hard stop. Five individuals in critical condition right now.

LEMON: yes, and you can bet, all of the Chicago area station there is are going live, because again, this is reminiscent of the accident that happened back in I think it was 2005, maybe 2006 from the CTA train that got stuck in the tunnel there as it was coming into the city from the suburbs. So, reminiscent of that, but I would imagine the affiliates are just going wall-to-wall coverage of this. It would be interesting to see how they are reporting.

Until we figure that out and get more we want to bring Chad Myers in, because, Chad, You can give us an exact location. You heard Larry Langford. He said it's happening in the area of 47th and 52nd and Shields. Give us an idea what that's like on the south side of Chicago.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a very large switching area, and we'll take our Google Earth and we'll zoom right into it here, and let's show you, from Chicago, you can begin to see it, the crash area here, and we'll come all the way in, and you can just see the number of lines here. Maybe you can count them from left to right. Boy, there must be three, four, five, seven, and then another 10 there. Must be 15 or so lines there in this area, and they all come in, they all break apart. This is where the trains release, and then come back in and just to a very small number of train tracks out to the north, and also obviously train tracks coming in from the south.

So this switching, or at times depending on what it looks like, sometimes it's called a hump yard, because there is a hump in the middle, and these trains just kind of move along without power. They're pushed over the hump, and then they kind of slide down the rest of the way, so it's easy to see how many trains coming into this area, and obviously how many trains have to go out of the area, one faulty switch, one wrong switch, one wrong turn, and the train is not where it's supposed to be.

And this is not a live picture, obviously. This is clearly a picture taken from the Google Earth some time ago. But you can basically exactly see the problem, how many times problems like this could occur that actually don't.

LEMON: And, Chad, could we go back to that real quick, Chad, if you can look at that. You can see that on this thing you see the Dan Ryan Expressway, which is next to this, and as we said, a myriad of lines there.

MYERS: Correct.

LEMON: That's the interstate right there that we were talking about. Chad, we've got some other news we want to get to real quick. We'll get back to you. Thank you for that.

PHILLIPS: This one is happening out of Boston, Mass right now. We'll continue to follow the train, or the car derailment there, and that train collision. But out of Boston, we're being told that police are responding to a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton's campaign office. Betty Nguyen with details on this developing story -- Betty. BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we don't know a lot on this, but let me tell what we do know. We understand that, like you said, a hostage situation is ongoing right now at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, New York. Here's a map of that area. It happened about 1:00 p.m. today at a building on Main Street there, according to police.

Now it's unclear how many people are held at that facility. It's also unclear who is holding those people, if there's more than one. Can tell you this, though. Clinton is not in New Hampshire. In fact, she is attending a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia.

What we know is a hostage situation is taking place at this hour, at a campaign office in New Hampshire, a Hillary Clinton campaign office. We don't know how many people have been taken hostage or who the hostage taker is at this hour. But obviously we're staying on top of this and will bring you more as soon as we know more information -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, we'll keep track, and we've got two developing stories right now as you heard. Betty right there talking about the hostage situation reported at Hillary Clinton's campaign office. Also the other breaking news story happening now is that train collision out of Chicago, Illinois. Live pictures coming to us from WLS in Chicago.

If you're just tuning in, we're following two breaking stories right now. This one is an Amtrak train that collided with a freight train on Chicago's south side. The area is the Canaryville neighborhood, about 150 passengers on board. It looks like passengers are OK. They are being treated for minor cuts and bruises. Some were taken out on a stretcher. We're trying to monitor how serious those injuries are.

But the most serious right now, five Amtrak employees we're told, serious to critical condition. They have been rushed straight to the hospital. They were actually where the most damage has been concentrated on this train collision, and that was on the passenger train engine, which you can see right there on top of the freight train.

LEMON: Absolutely, Kyra. And that was Larry Langford just a couple of moments ago. So we still don't know -- that was an initial report. We don't know the extent of all the injuries here and the severity. Our Keith Oppenheim is on the ground in Chicago on the scene, and we're going to bring him to you with an update and the very latest on this information. A train collision in Chicago, some serious injuries here. CNN is on top of it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Breaking news into the CNN NEWSROOM. There has been a train accident on the south side of Chicago, a number of injuries according to emergency workers there on the scene.

On the ground for CNN now, live, Keith Oppenheim. Keith, tell us about what you're seeing there.

VOICE OF KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Don, I walked into the scene kind of just through a dirt path and I got right underneath where the train, the front part of the Amtrak train had landed on top of a freight car. All of the police and fire activity really scrambling to get the passengers away from the train tracks, and medical attention.

I was fairly quickly recognized and police escorted me off the scene. But as I walked through, I saw images of people who were bleeding in the face and getting some medical attention, as they're setting up a whole triage area around me.

Now, on the street that I'm on right now, I'm being approached by passengers as I speak. And I'm actually going to try to speak to one. Excuse me, ma'am -- OK. These are passengers walking right in front of me with their bags. And they are taking them away from the scene. I'm going to see if I can try to talk to one of them.

Excuse me, ma'am. I'm on CNN. Would you be able to tell us a little bit about what happened when the train struck?

Go ahead into the phone, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Basically, you heard the brakes hit on and all of a sudden, just a big old slam and everyone went flying.

OPPENHEIM: When you say everything went flying, did you feel the impact pretty hard?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In our car, not really. Cars in front of us and behind us got a lot worse. We were kind of in the middle.

OPPENHEIM: So, was it -- but there's some sense of people being injured around you as you felt that impact?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

OPPENHEIM: How are you doing right now? You seem like you're OK. But it must have been -- the whole thing must have been quite a shock.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very startling. Kind of like -- very hard stop and startling.

OPPENHEIM: Where are you going right now with your bags? Where have they told you to go?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The school.

OPPENHEIM: So, they're all taking you to the Parkland (ph) Elementary School in front of us, and that's ...

LEMON: That's the school on the right hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As far as I know. OPPENHEIM: OK, thank you very much, ma'am. Good luck to you.

This is news on the fly, so Don, hang here with me. We're just seeing more passengers.

LEMON: Hey, Keith, can you hear me? Is she still there, that woman you spoke with?

OPPENHEIM: I'm sort of chasing her as she was going into an elementary school. But there are other passengers I can speak with.

LEMON: Yes, I was just wondering from the passengers what time they got on the train in Grand Rapids and to give some folks some idea of exactly where this train was coming from, what time. We know the number.

OPPENHEIM: En route (ph) -- there's another passenger with me right now. Excuse me, ma'am. I'm speaking live on CNN and my phone right now. Did you get on the train in Grand Rapids?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband and I got on the train in Holland, Michigan.

OPPENHEIM: In Holland, which is a little bit south of Grand Rapids. About what time did you get on the train?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was close to 9:00.

OPPENHEIM: OK, so 9:00 this morning, and how long ago was it that the impact occurred?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was about 1:00 Michigan time, which would have been around noon Chicago time.

OPPENHEIM: Can you give me a sense of what the impact was like? What happened for you when this accident occurred?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It just was kind of like a big crash and people really remained -- for the most part, remained calm. And my husband who was sitting next to me, he got -- he has maybe a broken nose. We're not sure yet. But everybody did remain fairly calm and there didn't seem to be any really serious injuries.

OPPENHEIM: Do you know where your husband is?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's right there.

OPPENHEIM: OK, in fact, I'm going to walk with you a little bit. Don, I can keep talking to folks here. I just want to make sure that you guys wanted me to stay on the air.

LEMON: Well, yes -- just keep going as long as we can here because it's very interesting to get the passengers' perspective, Keith. We saw that school that the lady you spoke to earlier was talking about that they were -- I guess having people go into as a sort of meet place so that they can organize the folks who are on the train.

And Keith, if you find another passenger, just jump in here. I'm just going to describe the pictures as you walk with them. If you get someone else you want to talk to, feel free to jump in.

On the phone now, our Keith Oppenheim who is from our Chicago Bureau in Chicago. And he is on the scene, just got there, talking about what passengers are experiencing. You can hear them in the background. This is all news coming in now live as it happens.

One woman he spoke to said people were bleeding in the face, and they were getting medical attention. At least that's what Keith said he saw when he got to the scene. The woman said she heard the brakes and all of a sudden a bam, and everything went flying, she said. She said she was lucky that she was in the middle of the train and sort of the rest of the cars in the back and in the front absorbed what was happening around her. So, her injuries she said didn't appear to be that badly.

If you look at the pictures on the left hand side of the screen, this is WGN Chicago, our affiliate. Look how close these railroad tracks are to homes here. All folks living in these homes obviously in the neighborhood called Canaryville. On the right side of your screen, you can just see what's happening on the scene here. Firefighters are continuing -- continue here to carry people off of this train. Even though the initial reports, Kyra said there were you know, maybe five injuries that they knew about.

Keith, if you want to jump in, let us know, otherwise I'm going to hand it off here to Kyra.

PHILLIPS: This is what we know so ...

OPPENHEIM: Absolutely ...

PHILLIPS: Go ahead, Keith. Do you have something, Keith?

OPPENHEIM: Yes, I'm just sort of letting you know that I'm sort of battling police out here because they're doing their job trying to keep the media corralled. But it's not a very corralable situation as there are a number of passengers making their way to this elementary school.

I'm going to put my phone to another passenger who is speaking right now to a local radio station.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead, Keith.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello?

OPPENHEIM: Hi, this is -- I'm Keith Oppenheim from CNN. You're talking all live on CNN. I may ask you a question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, go ahead.

OPPENHEIM: Tell us what happened. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were going about 10, 15 miles an hour and then all of a sudden, we came to a sudden stop and there was no intercom system of hey, you know, we're going to hit. And then, we just stopped suddenly and everybody went flying forward and a bunch of busted lips and broken noses and couple of sprains. And other than that, everyone is shooken (ph) up and we assess the problem and seen what happened.

He slammed into a parked train. And we were running 35 minutes late because of the snowfall in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So, that probably had something to do with the whole situation.

OPPENHEIM: So, you started off in bad weather and but I guess the question is why this would have happened. And I suppose that you don't have any idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, of course not, no. I don't have any idea how it happened, but my assessment would be the 35-minute running late, you know. That's why that train was stopped there because he thought probably this train already went through.

OPPENHEIM: So your guess is that this was a schedule issue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, definitely. Had to have been. Plus, engineers' fault also because we weren't going that fast. I mean, he'd seen the train parked in front of us, I'm pretty sure he would have stopped.

OPPENHEIM: Yes, and even if you're going slowly, an impact at a slow speed when you're talking about a moving train with a stationary train, must be pretty intense.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, it was definitely intense. I mean, you know, first thing you're thinking is oh, no what happened. And you know, how many people are going to be injured and hurt and everything else. But for a train wreck like I said before, it went pretty well. I mean, it could have been a lot, lot worse.

OPPENHEIM: And are you doing OK? How you feeling?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm fine, I'm fine. My shins are a little busted up. Other than that, you know, it's just another day, so -- as long as you got your health, keep on going.

OPPENHEIM: What's your first name, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shawn, Shawn. S-H-A-W-N, not seen.

OPPENHEIM: Shawn, thank you for speaking with us.

And I'm going to get back to you guys. Just gives you sort of a philosophical sense of how a passenger is taking a lot of this in stride. And we are seeing that a lot on the scene here, Kyra and Don, that there are passengers who really seem to be coping with chaos.

Back to you. PHILLIPS: Well, Keith, keep working the scene for us. We appreciate it. We've got two developing stories right now. This -- these two trains that collided in Chicago, we're following that. Keith Oppenheim on the ground, bringing us information there.

The other story happening right now is coming out of New Hampshire. A bit of a bizarre story, police responding to a hostage situation at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in New Hampshire.

Betty Nguyen is working details on this. We're getting live pictures from our affiliate there, WHDH. Have we found out anything more, Betty?

NGUYEN: Yes, we do have a little bit more information. This coming to us from our affiliate WCVB, and this is what we know according to the affiliate, that an armed man took a couple people hostage, brought those people inside the campaign office there in New Hampshire, and it's unclear how many people, though, are being held inside that office.

There are several officers positioned across the street from the offices. This is a live view of what we're talking about, that campaign office there in Rochester, New Hampshire. Nearby businesses, because of this, have been evacuated. The St. Elizabeth Seton School has been in lockdown due to this.

And this all occurred about 45 minutes ago Eastern time, 1:00 Eastern time. And you can see some of the crews on the ground there. Don't know, again, who this particular armed man is. But what we have learned from affiliate WCVB is that he is holding people hostage at the office and it's not known how many people are being held inside the office.

Again, this is a Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in New Hampshire. And the nearby businesses have been evacuated. A nearby school is under lockdown because of the situation. And police are in the area, in fact, many officers have been positioned across the street from the office. Some are telling us that they're crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, so obviously a very serious situation happening right now at the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire.

And Kyra, we're obviously going to stay on top of this and bring you the latest just as soon as we get more information.

PHILLIPS: Three big stories happening right now. Betty Nguyen talking about one of them right there, a hostage situation reported at Hillary Clinton's campaign office in New Hampshire, SWAT team on the scene. We're going to bring you updates from there.

Also out of Chicago, Illinois, an Amtrak train colliding with a freight train on Chicago's south side. Five people critically injured, all Amtrak employees.

And now yet, a third story coming out of Miami. Three suspects being detained right now in the murder investigation of NFL star Sean Taylor.

We're going to take a quick break. We're following all three stories right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Following a number of developing stories and breaking news stories. We'll get back to that Amtrak train collision in Chicago in a minute, but we want to get to John Zarrella who's on the phone with us out of Miami. Three suspects being held right now for questioning in the Sean Taylor murder investigation.

John, what are you finding out?

VOICE OF JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Kyra, what we can say is that a raid very early morning hours today on the west coast of Florida, not in Miami, across the state in the Fort Myers area, involving the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Miami- Dade County police as well as local police over in the Fort Myers area, raid of a home in that area. Three individuals taken into custody for questioning. We're talking about 100 miles from Miami where the actual shooting took place.

Do not know at this point in time the ages of the individuals, what relationship, if any, they may have had with Sean Taylor. Police are not saying very much at all. Very likely in the process of questioning these three individuals. We know that during this early morning raid, items were taken out of the home that they raided. What those items might be, perhaps stolen merchandise, perhaps other evidence that might link them to Sean Taylor's home. That's what we believe may be the case.

But police are not saying anything. Any information when it does come out will likely -- more than likely come out, Kyra, from Miami- Dade County, which remains the lead agency in the investigation -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And I don't know if you can answer this or not, John. But do we have any idea if these suspects that are being detained knew Sean Taylor in any way, any personal way?

ZARRELLA: Well, that's just it. We don't know for sure. There have been some reports that perhaps they may have known of him through a third party, but beyond that, we just don't know. Do not believe at this point in time that they had a direct relationship with Sean Taylor, or whether they knew him at all other than perhaps some knowledge of him through a third party. But that's all we know at this point in time -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And there's a connection -- they believe possibly these same individuals were the ones that burglarized his home -- what was it, just about a couple -- a month ago or ...

ZARRELLA: No, it was actually eight days before Sean Taylor was murdered.

PHILLIPS: OK.

ZARRELLA: It was on November 18th when it was burglarized. And back then, according to his attorney Richard Sharpstein, he said he believed that some items were taken during that burglary. He didn't know what those items were. But he did say that some items were taken.

And police have been trying to link the two events, and again, we will more than likely -- when they finally make a public statement on this, find out if there is linkage between those two events, and obviously, what if any relationship these individuals had to Mr. Taylor.

PHILLIPS: John Zarrella on the phone from Miami.

An early morning raid, three suspects detained in the murder investigation surrounding NFL star Sean Taylor. We're following it.

LEMON: We're following this, we're also following developing news, breaking news actually out of Chicago. A train accident there, a number of injuries. You see one of them being loaded into an ambulance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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