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Train Derails in the Bronx, Four Dead; Interview with Deborah Hersman; Survivors Recount Train Crash

Aired December 01, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Now we welcome our viewers in the U.S. We are bringing you special news coverage, breaking coverage of that deadly train crash in New York, just north of the city.

Here's what we know at the moment. Authorities say four people are dead after a Metro North train derailed this morning in the Bronx. At least 67 other people are hurt and officials say 11 of those people were seriously injured.

The fire chief described where they found the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF EDWARD KILDUFF, NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT: We have four fatalities, three were outside the train. One was brought from outside -- inside the train out. We had to use air bags under the train to remove some of the critically injured. We had to cut some of the people from within the train that might -- that were slightly entangled in the train itself to get them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now the train derailed near Spuyten Duyvil Station. At least seven passengers cars went off the track shortly after 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a go team to the scene to investigate the accident but an official tells us the issue of whether the train was going too fast is, quote, "a key point of concern."

The White House says President Obama has been briefed on the derailment.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was on the scene this morning. He expressed his condolences for the victims and their families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: What we do know is four people lost their lives today. In the holiday season, right after Thanksgiving. And they are in our thoughts and prayers. Their families have not yet been notified. So we'll be working on that now. But let's all say a prayer and remember those people who we lost this morning.

And I want to thank all the first responders who are really doing a fantastic job right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now the governor will be joining us live for a complete update. That is coming up at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

We have reporters in New York, of course, gathering more information every moment as this story rapidly develops.

Joining me now from the scene is correspondent Alexandra Field.

Alexandra, what are you seeing there at the moment?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some heart-breaking images to end this holiday weekend. What we've seen over the last few minutes is a New York Fire Department chaplain who has been on the tracks and near the wreckage where four people were killed this morning.

We've also seen stretchers wheeled over to the area where two train cars turned completely on their sides. Seven cars in total were thrown off the tracks as the train came around the bend this morning here in the Bronx. This is an eight-car train. It stopped just feet short of the river.

People who are on board that train say that they could hear and feel the glass smashing, rubble flying up in their faces. Injuries include a lot of broken bones. Right now we're hearing that there are 67 people who are hurt. They've been taken to at least four different local hospitals. Eleven people are in critical condition.

There were three conductors on board this train, Miguel, and one engineer. All four have been found. We have no word on their condition. But we do know that the operator of this train has said that he applied pressure to the brakes and that the train did not stop.

People who live here in the Bronx have been telling us all morning that they woke up around 7:00. They heard that screeching sound. The familiar noise of the wheels. The train sort of coming to a stop and then they heard the crash. They came outside. They saw these seven cars that had jumped entirely off the track.

We are told right now that between 100 and 150 people were likely on board the Metro North Commuter train that had left Poughkeepsie about 100 miles north of New York this morning and was headed for Grand Center. Authorities believe that they have located every passenger on board, but you can see behind me that there are still a large emergency presence here.

There have been Coast Guard boats in the water. There have been divers in the water. There have been cadaver dogs in the woods. Authorities and emergency responders want to make sure above all else that they have located everyone who was on board that train this morning -- Miguel. MARQUEZ: Yes, Alexandra, it must be said that it was very impressive

to see the New York officials get on it this morning. We saw divers very quickly in the water there because one of the concerns was that apparently, two of the people -- at least two of the people who were killed were killed when they were thrown from the train itself. Concern that there may be others in the water.

Are they still in the water? Is -- have they called off at least that part of the search?

FIELD: We have not, in the last few minutes, seen divers actually in the water itself. We did see them earlier this morning. We haven't been told that anything has been called off in any way. There are still a lot of people out here who we will presume will continue to hook around. But we do know that no one was found in the water to this point. We're being told that everyone who was located was located somewhere on land.

We do know that the four people who were killed have been riding in the two cars which turned completely on their sides. And we know that three of those people, in fact, were thrown from the train but again on land. There were also early initial reports this morning that train cars had actually gone into the river.

You can see where someone may have thought that when you see just how close the train stopped to the water's edge but in fact, no cars went into the water and at this point we're told that no one was located in the water.

MARQUEZ: It is absolutely incredible to see how close that train car came to the water. And clearly the train, speaking to an expert saying that it clearly -- speed was clearly an indication here or part of this because the cars do not appear crumpled. If it were the track that failed, for instance, it would have been one or two cars that went off the tracks. But in this case, all seven cars seemed to go straight on as the curb went around the other way.

Alexandra, are you -- the other thing that we do know is that there was another crash there about six months ago, this involving a freight train that was on the northbound tracks, slightly different area just north of there.

Are you hearing anything there on the scene from either people who live in the area, concerns expressed about this particular stretch of track?

FIELD: You know, some people are wondering if this will all be part of one larger investigation now to figure out what's going on here. People who live in the area point out that there is a curve. And this train was coming around the curve when it derailed. So they are certainly and naturally expressing concerns about whether or not that stretch of track is safe.

They're raising questions about whether or not this train is speeding. We have of course heard from some of the people who were on board the train saying that they felt that the train was going fast. But really, this is something for investigators to deal with. It's a question that can only be answered by the NTSB right now.

Their go team is en route. Their investigators will be taking a look at this stretch of track. They'll also be looking at the trains and the train cars that are now off the tracks. So again it's being left to them to determine whether or not a track problem or an issue of speed could have caused this. But the people who live around here and see these trains go back and forth, they certainly want to know if that's what's causing the trouble here -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Yes, and one more quick question for you. The most chilling thing that you said was that you saw a priest at the tracks there. Did he appear to be giving last rites? What was actually happening there?

FIELD: There was a chaplain who was on the tracks down here near the area of the wreckage. To be clear, authorities have told us at this point there were four fatalities. Four people killed. That is information that we've been able to report for a few hours now since just shortly after these trains derailed.

So don't take that as a sign of another fatality here. But this is certainly what would have happened in an emergency situation like this. The chaplain would have been called in knowing that there were perhaps 100 or 150 people on board and there is still a heavy New York Fire Department presence here on the track.

MARQUEZ: Very, very chilling on this holiday weekend.

Alexandra Field, please stand by for us. We're going to get right back to you.

And just to give you a sense of how crucial these trains are to New York, these MTA rail lines move more than 83 million passengers per year. The Hudson Line where the derailment occurred is, alone, it moves 16 million passengers a year. So this is a key part of the mass transit for folks who live in the distant suburbs and commute into the city. It is going to be a scramble tomorrow morning for anyone using the line to get into the city.

Now let's get to the investigation into this crash. Joining me by phone is Debbie Hersman. She is the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

What can you tell us about the investigation right now? And thank you for being with us.

DEBORAH HERSMAN CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Sure. Good afternoon. We have a go team that's in route right now to the accident scene. They left Washington right this morning. Our eyes in LaGuardia. And they will hit the ground running. They are experts in the work that they do.

We've got folks who are focusing on operation, track, human factors, crash worthiness and survivability. Recorders experts and they're all going to be looking to focus on those particular areas. And so for example our recorders expert is going to go look to see if we can identify any black box type recorders that might be on board the train. They'll be looking at the signal system to see if there's any indication there that might tell us about what happened.

And of course our operations team will be looking at the dispatchers and the train operators and anyone who might have operated on these tracks immediately prior to this train coming through. So we've got a lot of work to do. We don't have a lot of daylight hours to do it, but we're going to do as much as we can, certainly, as we get on scene to try to find out what happened so we can prevent something like this from happening again.

MARQUEZ: It sounds like a lot of work for you guys in the days ahead. Can you say -- this is a push-pull train. There were seven cars plus an engine so eight cars total. Can you say -- and the engine was at the rear of the train. Can you say anything about the safetiness or the ability of this sort of configuration of train to go around a curve that sharp?

HERSMAN: You know, certainly we will be looking at what was expected in this situation and if those expectations were actually met. So we've got a lot to do before we can reach any conclusions. We've got to gather some facts. Our teams have got to get on the scene and they've got to understand what the environment is, what the equipment was doing, and also how it was being operated.

And so there's a lot of work to do. We are investigating several accidents that have occurred on Metro North's property over the last eight months. And so we will be looking at precursor events. Things that maybe were close calls prior to this that could have given Metro North some indication that this was an area that they needed to pay attention to. If we find any acute safety issues, we will issue recommendations.

MARQUEZ: On that point, there was in July of this year a freight train that went off the rails on the northbound track, just a little ways north of where this train cashed today. Metro North saying that the two incidents are unrelated. Are you prepared to say these two incidents are unrelated?

HERSMAN: Well, I think we need to take a look at each accident, each event, and identify what the facts are before we reach any conclusions. And so at this point, we want to look at this event at what occurred, at how it occurred, and why it occurred. We're certainly aware of the trash train that derailed in July. We will be taking a close look at that.

There has been a lot of work that has taken place in this area since that derailment. And so we will want to understand in detail what happened this morning to result in this catastrophic event.

MARQUEZ: When you say lots of work in that area, you mean as a result of the freight crash or were they just undergoing repairs in that area that you were aware of?

HERSMAN: Well, we held a two-day hearing last month involving Metro North, and two accidents that we're investigating on their property and with that hearing they shared with us a lot of work that they'd done, safety audits. Brought in some technical equipment to look at the condition of their track and repairs that they have made over the last few months. And so all of that work has been ongoing since the May accidents and also as a result of the July derailment.

MARQUEZ: And I know it's very difficult for you to say much about this at the moment because you don't have full knowledge of what happened there but clearly the train conductor has said he applied the brakes and they appeared not to respond. And everybody that we've spoken to or heard from on that train said it appeared to be going very fast.

How important are those initial reports of how this accident unfolded?

HERSMAN: Well, it's always important to get as much information as possible. Certainly, witnesses and operators can provide a great deal of insight into the events that occurred. But we have to corroborate that information with other evidence and factual information.

As I said, we'll be looking for information from recorders that can possibly tell us about speed. It could tell us about throttle position or braking. But we need to make sure that those recorders were actually working at the time of the crash and that they weren't damaged as a result of the accident.

We also can look to things like surveillance cameras or even just people who might be taking photos or video in the vicinity. And so all of that can be very helpful to us. And so we take a number of different pieces of information, whether it's witnesses, operators' statements or recorded information, or actual video or surveillance footage, we can take that and put all of that together and really corroborate it and come up with a good picture.

MARQUEZ: Miss Hersman, we met in San Francisco a few months ago during the Asiana crash there. That obviously plane crashes are familiar with. Trains are a little less common here obviously. How do those investigations differ? You mentioned black boxes. Do these trains actually black boxes or recording devices like the planes would?

HERSMAN: Well, that's a good question. And even though we called them black boxes, they are in planes. They're orange so we can them after a crash. But the black boxes actually, they have a lot of information. In aviation, those boxes can be very sophisticated on new aircrafts with hundreds of parameters being recorded.

And in a minimum they required to record scores of parameters. We don't see that many parameters recorded on rail cars, but we often do find very good recorded information on rail cars.

We can also get information from video. Some trains are equipped with forward facing video. In one of the investigations of the Metro North crash that had occurred in Connecticut in May we actually had an Amtrak train that had gone right through that same area immediately before the Metro North train. Had front end video that reported the crack in the track that ultimately caused the derailment. So there's a lot of different information out there. We're going to

draw on all of it to do a very thorough and comprehensive investigation.

MARQUEZ: All right. Deborah Hersman there, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Thank you very much for being with us on this Thanksgiving weekend.

HERSMAN: You're welcome.

MARQUEZ: Now more on this breaking story out of the Bronx in New York after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MARQUEZ: Now we are going to continue following this developing story. Here's what we know at the moment.

There are four fatalities, 67 people are hurt, 11 of them critically. Three people were thrown out of the train. Some had to be rescued underneath the train cars.

And look at this picture sent in by a passenger, Amanda Swanson. She was on that train car. Amazingly enough she survived unscathed. If you look at that, that's the way she took the picture as she was getting out. That is the train car on its side. At the bottom of the train of that picture you can see the gravel that came in through the windows of that train. And way down the end of that car you can see somebody who appears to be trying to either get out or get in the car to see if it was in there through the roof of that train.

Amanda Swanson sharing her story with us here at CNN about how she was asleep on the train, headed to work. She was sort of wedged in there, and suddenly the train was moving at about 60 percent -- 60 degree angle. She knew what was going on. She grasped her purse and her cell phone just in case she survived, she said.

And amazingly enough, she survived. And she will be joining us for a live interview as well at 4:00 Eastern today. Such a harrowing tale. Thank you for sharing it with us. And we look forward to speaking with you and hearing from you at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Let's go now to Alexandra Field. She has an emergency worker with her at the scene of the crash.

Alexandra, what are they saying at the moment?

FIELD: All right, Miguel. We're with Rob Astorino. He's the Westchester County executive here.

And, Rob, we've seen all morning long, divers in the water. Cadaver dogs, emergency workers out here. Would you still classify this as a search and what are we seeing down here right now? ROB ASTORINO, WESTCHESTER COUNTY EXECUTIVE: My guess is it's not a

search at this point anymore, but they are clearly beginning the investigation stage now. The National Transportation Safety Board was on its way up from Washington. They should be here very shortly. You have the NYPD and the MTA doing their investigation. You have the conductor and the engineers from the train, a black box.

But, you know, as a commuter, a former commuter, before I got elected, I just can't imagine what it was like for those commuters sitting in that train upon impact. You know, that's the last thing you expect.

FIELD: And, Rob, we know that the only silver lining here is that given the fact that this was a Sunday morning, and that this train had left that station in Poughkeepsie early this morning, there were fewer people on board the train than could have been.

Give us some perspective here on how often these tracks are used and how busy Metro North service is here.

ASTORINO: Constantly. I mean, they're serviced all the time. And so, you know, we can't forget about the four people who did die. And I just, hopefully their families are getting through this. The people who are in critical condition, that they get through this, and then, you know, for us, now the challenge is, how do we get people home tonight from the northern suburbs. A lot of New York City residents went away for Thanksgiving went way, coming back tonight.

And then for Westchester County in the northern suburbs, how to get tens and tens of thousands of people into Manhattan tomorrow with one less train line. So those are things that we're working on today and then set up options for commuters tonight for tomorrow's rush hour.

FIELD: What do people need to do? What do they need to expect? Because obviously this is going to be an extended disruption in service.

ASTORINO: There's clearly going to be a disruption. I mean, the tracks alone are going to take probably two days to fix it if they can get started on them today. You've got the crane that's coming that's going to lift these rail cars up today hopefully. And so there's, you know, a process now along with the investigation, but we want to make sure that commuters understand what their options are.

We want to get people to work tomorrow. There's going to be park and rides, there's going to be shuttles. There's going to be options to take the subway. You know, so there's -- there are going to be options. Whether they take them or not is going to be up to them.

FIELD: And bottom line, if we're talking about commuters or all the people who are out traveling for the holiday today, it looks pretty clear here that these tracks would be shut down for a number of days?

ASTORINO: Well, from what I understand, Amtrak is going to be able to have some limited service coming through here. There is a line that they can get through but on the logistics for that, you know, that'll clearly be the MTA answering those kind of questions as is the investigation.

FIELD: Rob, when you look here, and this is part of your county when you see these trains, seven trains, off the rails like this, you know, the backdrop of the beautiful Hudson River here, what were your thoughts when you came out here this morning?

ASTORINO: My first thoughts were to the commuters who lost their lives and their families who are affected now and those who are in the hospital, and hopefully they'll pull through. But -- and again this is -- there's never a good time to have something like this happen.

But thankfully it wasn't tomorrow morning where this would have been a massive scene with probably many, many more casualties with packed commuter trains in the morning. So that's the only silver lining. But we can't forget there were four people who were killed today.

FIELD: And for people who aren't familiar with the area, who don't use these trains, we're talking about trains that can carry hundreds of people? Thousands of people?

ASTORINO: Well, depending on how many trains, I think there were seven today. So, you know, if they were packed you probably had over -- you could have had over a thousand people on them. But I don't think that was the case. It was a very early morning train from Poughkeepsie coming down, you know, through Putnam County and into Westchester where they made a lot of stops and then on the way into the city.

FIELD: Thank you. Rob Astorino, Westchester County Executive here.

Miguel, we'll send it back to you.

MARQUEZ: Alexandra Field, thank you very much.

Coming up, we're going to talk to Amanda Swanson. This is the woman who survived that train crash, took some photos of it. We will have more on her amazing story of survival coming up after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MARQUEZ: Welcome back to our continuing breaking news coverage of this train crash in the Bronx. I'm Miguel Marquez in Atlanta. It is 1:30 on the East Coast, a little over six hours since that Metro North train crashed.

Joining me on the phone right now is Amanda Swanson. She is a passenger that was on that plane -- that on that train as it lost control and came off the tracks as it went around a corner.

Amanda, we have looked at one photo in particular that you sent in. Thank you very much for being with us. I'm very happy that you are OK.

AMANDA SWANSON, TRAIN PASSENGER: Yes. MARQUEZ: Can you just explain to us --

SWANSON: Thank you.

MARQUEZ: -- what was going through your head and what was happening in that train as you snapped this photo with the train on its side.

SWANSON: I was actually dozing off. I was on my way to work in Manhattan. And I kind of woke up as I sensed that my body was at like a 60 to 45 degree angle while I was sitting perfectly upright in my seat. When I opened my eyes it became very clear. I did have headphones in so the screeching hadn't quite registered, like the metal on metal noises. And when I realized what was going on, I immediately was very much awake.

I -- my first reaction was to grab my phone and my personal belongings because in that moment, I had every intention of walking away from this accident, you know. As the train started to tilt further, once it had hit the ground on its side, the windows had blown out, and gravel and glass had pelted just in every possible direction.

I managed to put my bag up in front of my face and block myself from any injury that way. And then I kind of just made a conscious effort to just ride with the movement of the train and just try to keep myself in a position where I had consciousness and as much control that I could. You know, in that moment. It's a terrifying moment. And I just decided that, like, this was not going to be any worse than it had to be and that I was definitely going to walk out of this and make sure that I called my parents when it was over.

Once the train had fully maid impact and come to a complete stop, that was the only moment where I really was not quite sure if I was going to get through this. But I woke up moments later, and the dust was settling, and I realized the gravity of the situation. And when I stood up, I looked around and I was in one of the cars that was completely on its side. And my first reaction was I looked at my phone. The screen was shattered. But it still worked and I just immediately called 911.

MARQUEZ: I'm -- I'm flabbergasted at your story. How did you -- how did you stay so calm? What got you through this experience?

SWANSON: Well, you know, it might sound silly, but I kind of always felt that at some point in my life I was going to be in one of these trying situations or make-or-break situations and, you know, I'm definitely my father's daughter. I just knew that panicking was not going to do any good.

So I just decided to stay awake, keep my head and neck protected, and just go with the flow of the accident and just hope to God that it landed in such a way where I did not get crushed or hit and unconscious. And, you know, not to say that I did this clearly. It could have been a multitude of factors that would have thrown my plan right out of the window. But I just tried. I tried.

And I felt in that moment, having no idea what was going on in the other cars on the train that I had been lucky, clearly, but I thought that I had been lucky to be in the particular cars that I was in. I thought maybe the fatalities were in some of those other cars that were a little more contorted and hit the side of the river and tracks at different angles. And it wasn't until the last interview that I did earlier where I could hear what was going on in the control room and what Governor Cuomo was saying that I found out that the fatalities were actually in those cars.

So now I just -- I just can't even get over how lucky I was to not only not be injured, but be like ambulatory.

MARQUEZ: This is my --

SWANSON: And cognizant enough to make that phone call.

MARQUEZ: This is my next question, I mean, looking at that picture where the car is completely on its side, the people who were killed were apparently thrown from those cars. Did you see others? What was the condition of others either in the car that you were in or once you got out of that car out on the tracks or in other locations? What was that scene like?

SWANSON: I tend to, especially on a Sunday morning train sit kind of isolated. So there wasn't really very many people directly around me. And if there's one thing I can say I did not do that I usually do is I usually am pretty aware of the other people on the train and what they look like and how close they are to me. And I was just very, very tired this morning on my work to work and didn't really make that assessment as I normally do.

Once I can -- once I, like, realized what was going on and that I was in fact OK or as OK as I could be with that much adrenaline, I looked around, and most of the people on my train were also standing. I did hear moaning. I did hear someone yelling that they were trapped. Some adult men were on the other end of the train. I couldn't see them through all the dust but I could hear that they were clearly also all right and doing what they could to try to help those that were injured. But on my back half of the train that I -- it was emotionally -- it was mostly just emotional trauma.

MARQUEZ: And just briefly, I want to go back to one thing you said at the beginning. Did you -- you held on to consciousness, you said, but did -- as the train slant into to the ground, did you lose consciousness for a moment?

SWANSON: I don't necessarily know that I did, because I -- like, if I did, I came to immediately. Otherwise, it was just that -- just that initial thud when the train stopped moving completely when I kind of, like, that's when, you know, I just closed my eyes just kind of hoped to God that I was going to be able to call my mom with decent news. But it was, I mean, it was scary, but I was definitely awake and aware the entire time.

MARQUEZ: How long did it -- so you wake up halfway through the crash. How long did it feel like? SWANSON: Like it felt like it was going in slow motion. It

definitely was a very different experience. I have been in a pretty nasty car crash. And about three years ago. And this was definitely a different experience. Trains tend to, I guess, crash in slow motion because it felt like a minute, but I know that in actuality it was probably only like five or six seconds.

I mean, I obviously don't know that for sure. But that's how it felt. It was a very slow-moving succession.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: I bet it was. Amanda Swanson, a daddy's girl, thank you very, very much for being with us. I hope you get the day off from work today as well.

SWANSON: Oh, yes. Oh yes. That's been squared away. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUEZ: All right. Take care.

Now four people were killed when that train derailed in the Bronx this morning. At least 67 people were hurt and rushed to hospitals.

Nic Robertson is live at one of those hospitals, St. Barnabas in the Bronx. He joins me on the phone.

Nic, what are you hearing now about the injured?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Well, we're hearing that at these hospital 12 injured people brought to the hospital, two of them were in serious condition, at least one person has a bad, open fracture on their lower leg. Another person has a crushed open fracture on their elbow.

One of the other serious casualties here is a gentleman who has a broken vertebrae, high up in his back. They are concerned about the movement of his arms and his legs at this stage. He's being put through the MRI and being screened at this time, at least within the last hour.

Doctors also say here that they have treated a 14-year-old boy for cuts and abrasions and bruises. They say that he was traveling on the train with his father. That he is OK and that he will be released. His father's still undergoing treatment at this time. There's also a police officer, a female police officer who was traveling to work on the train. She has been injured. She has broken ribs and a broken bone in her shoulder is how it's been described to us.

Doctors say these injures very much consistent with a train coming off the track, tumbling around. They say that they have seen a lot of dirt in some of the wounds, some of the injuries, the open wounds that they've treated, they said had a lot of dirt in. They said it wasn't clear whether that was as a direct result of the accident or just the way the casualties were then evacuated from the train afterwards. But the doctors here say the accident and the arrival of the

casualties at the hospitals was a very fortunate piece of timing. The night emergency team was just getting ready to leave and the day shift emergency team had just arrived in. So then they had additional doctors in place to begin triaging the casualties and taking the most badly wounded to treatment first -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: You say two seriously injured. Emergency services said 11 earlier. So 11 critical. So the two that you mentioned, though, are the worst of those in critical conditions, who may have life threatening conditions at this point?

ROBERTSON: Of course there are more casualties at other hospitals as well. The 12 casualties at this particular St. Barnabas Hospital are not the entire picture. So the two -- the two critical casualties that they have here will be part of those 11 that they get bigger containing. People who are being treated at the other medical centers right now.

MARQUEZ: And, Nic, you were at the scene of the crash earlier in the day, watching it from afar here. It does appear that the response by medical assistants and by divers was incredibly fast. What was your sense of the way things played out there this morning?

ROBERTSON: Equally fast. As we approached the scene I can see a lot of rescue workers literally right swarming over the -- over the train. But within 15 or 20 minutes getting down close to the site, most of those are workers with sort of orange uniform or orange parts on their uniforms, the rescue workers that would -- that I could see that swarm on the train and beside the train could move away from it.

And listening to what the doctors here says in Barnabas Hospital is that the casualties all arrived here fairly quickly, within an hour and a half of the accident they say they had had all the casualties that were coming to them. They've been informed that there would be no more coming. And they, too, about 15 to 20 minutes away from the crash site itself were surprised to get all those casualties in so quickly.

So it does appear that these early stages have been very fast and very efficient. And the hospital here was ready. They say they have practiced for these sorts of scenarios. They are ready for these sorts of scenarios. One of the doctors treating some of the first of the casualties, Dr. Howard Katz (ph) here told me when he was asked, had he seen something like this before, and his answer was he was on scene on 9/11, treating casualties then within an hour of that situation starting. So the doctors here very well versed in dealing with trauma situations -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Nic Robertson for us at a hospital in the Bronx, thank you very, very much. More on this breaking story out of the Bronx just after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. MARQUEZ: We continue now with our breaking news coverage of the train

crash in the Bronx. I'm joined now by Rene Marsh from Washington, D.C.

Rene, the NTSB's team has just left D.C. heading to the scene of this trail train derailment in the Bronx. What exactly will they be looking for?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yes, and we also know that later on, Miguel, that they will be holding a briefing. So we hope to be a little bit more of information about the preliminary evidence that they've been able to collect and how they plan to move forward with the investigation. But typically with an investigation like this, I heard that you had Chairman Hersman on our air.

She kind of flushed a little bit as far as the evidence here looking to collect those event recorders. Very similar to the recorders that you see that they have on board of airplanes that record some sort of parameters.

The thing that makes this slightly different is that because with the train recorders they don't capture as much information as the recorders do when it comes to aviation. However, they should be able to, if they're in good shape, be able to get information like speed and application of brakes possibly. She talked about photos and video evidence that they may be able to collect.

But another issue that we're going to be looking at is this human factor. They'll be looking at the train conductor as well. Physical examinations, they'll be looking at possibly rest requirements. Was this person -- do they have enough rest? What was their schedule leading up to this?

Human factor is also a very important issue when it comes to these investigations. And as we mentioned, we do know past accidents in this area will be something that they're going to be looking at, too, because Hersman said herself, Metro North, the property has seen, in the past eight months, several incidents. So they're going to be look, is there a pattern here? Is this an indication of a bigger issue when it comes to safety -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Yes, and how -- one thing on that last point, there was a freight train just north of this area that crashed on those same tracks in the Metro North tracks in July. There were a couple of other accidents in May of this year. One of them resulting in the death, at least one of them resulting in the death of a train worker.

How do they bring in all of that information? Or does that -- does that impact the investigation that will be ongoing now with this current accident?

MARSH: Well, we can tell you that a lot of times when the go team dispatches to an accident, there's a board member, and one of the five NTSB board members accompanies the team. And we do know that Board Member Earl Wiener is accompanying this team that is headed to the crash there in New York. He is the same board member who responded to that Connecticut crash.

So he is very familiar with the details in that Connecticut crash, which, by the way, is still under investigation and the NTSB hasn't ruled a cause as yet. So he's going to be able to bring valuable information to this simply because he's very aware of all the evidence and what they know so far in that Connecticut crash.

But they'll use what they know in past accidents compared to what they're able to collect in this accident. And as they always say paint a picture to determine, is there a systemic problem regarding safety with Metro North or in this region here of track that we're talking about here.

MARQUEZ: Right.

MARSH: So even past accidents will be helpful as they try to figure out what went wrong here.

MARQUEZ: Rene Marsh, for us, in Washington, D.C. Rene, thank you very much.

More on this breaking story out of the Bronx after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MARQUEZ: More of our continuing coverage of breaking news now on that Bronx train crash. Updating the news now in that deadly crash.

Authorities say four people were killed after a Metro North train derailed this morning in the Bronx. At least 67 other people are hurt, and officials say 11 of those people were seriously injured.

Nick Valencia is -- joins us here now. He's been keeping tabs on what's happening in the social media world and the pictures, the amount of information we're seeing out there.

What are you finding?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of the first images of this derailment surfaced on social media. We've been scouring social media since we heard reports initially of this train derailment.

I want to share with you some of those that we obtained. We'll start with Daniel Cohen. He gives a very eerie perspective here. That's -- yes, that's coming to us actually from another user on Instagram. That's Squinty Saber.

This is Daniel Cohen's photo and it shows a very unsettling and you could sort of see, Miguel, the scale of the crash. You have that car flipped over on its side. You were talking to one woman who was in a car that was flipped over earlier.

Terry Tines (ph) posted a photo of Coast Guard boats in the water, if we can switch to that photo there. Initially as we mentioned and as initially been reported, there was a belief that one of those cars of the train had made it into the Hudson River. We know that's not accurate as well but Coast Guard searching and just making sure that there's no one in that water. Three people were ejected not into the water but they were ejected and they suffered from fatalities from their injuries.

Another tweet here coming to us from Rebecca Press Schwartz (ph), she was actually one of the first people to send an image to CNN. I spoke to her earlier. And she said she didn't see the crash itself but she saw the aftermath of that crash. She was right across the river.

Miguel, she said it was deeply unsettling, very unnerving, and the moment she saw that scene she said it was something very big and very bad.

MARQUEZ: I'm sure it was. A lot of the folks that I've either heard from or read about or seen online talk about the noise. The people in that neighborhood.

VALENCIA: Right.

MARQUEZ: And the concern about the second crash that happened -- or this accident, the derailment six months ago in July. What are you hearing on that score?

VALENCIA: What we know -- we don't know just yet. That's part of the NTSB's investigation. We had the chairwoman on earlier, Deborah Hersman. A big factor of this investigation, of course, is going to be the event box recorder. Similar to a black box on a plane. They're going to be looking into that, trying to see exactly when the train stopped, if speed was a factor, and of course we've been hearing a lot of people --

MARQUEZ: But many people saying speed is a factor.

VALENCIA: Yes, that's what we're hearing.

MARQUEZ: Online and many other media source at the moment.

VALENCIA: That's right.

MARQUEZ: All right. Thank you very much, Nick Valencia.

More on this breaking story out of the break coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MARQUEZ: Continuing with our continuing breaking news coverage of the train crash in the Bronx. For those of you who aren't familiar with New York City, the wreck happened just north of Manhattan Island.

CNN's Samantha Moore joins us to pinpoint the site of the wreck -- Samantha. SAMANTHA MOORE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're going to take you into

Poughkeepsie, Miguel, to start with. Then we're going to take you down the North Metro Hudson line here. So here is Poughkeepsie. You can see on Google Earth. And here very well defined on the map is that line. And you can see it does go through several curves on that 1:15 minute long train ride which then takes you into the Bronx here and we're going to zoom in a little closer and show you what this looks like, right along the Hudson River where it meets the Harlem River.

Where these come together and this is a very area of -- a very turbulent area of water here. In fact that is what Spuyten Duyvil means. It's a lot of wild tidal current coming in and out during the day here. So rough waters, the divers were in here earlier where the water temperature was right around 44, 45 degrees.

Of course they have wet suits on. If they didn't, it wouldn't take long for hypothermia to set in. But you can see here is the actual track as it comes around that curve and here is where the trains were derailed. Seven trains in all on that particular -- involved in that particular accident and all of those cars were tipped over on their sides.

So this kind of just gives you an idea that long train ride between Poughkeepsie and the Bronx -- Miguel.

MARQUEZ: Samantha Moore, thank you very much.

And I am Miguel Marquez in for Fredricka Whitfield. These are the stories topping our news this hour.