WASHINGTON — A Metro commuter train smashed into the rear of another at the height of the capital's Monday evening rush hour, killing at least six people and injuring scores as the front end of the trailing train jackknifed into the air and fell atop the first.
Cars of both trains were ripped open and smashed together in the worst accident in Metrorail's 33-year history. District of Columbia fire spokesman Alan Etter said crews had to cut some people out of what he described as a "mass casualty event." Rescuers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors scramble to safety. Seats from the smashed cars spilled out onto the track.
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said six were confirmed dead. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said rescue workers treated 76 people at the scene and sent some of them to local hospitals, six with critical injuries. A search for further victims continued into the night.
A Metro official said the dead included the operator of the trailing train, identified as Jeanice McMillan of Springfield, Va
Washington City Councilman Jim Graham described the wreckage with a single word: "Horror."
The crash around 5 p.m. EDT took place on the system's Red Line, Metro's busiest, which runs below ground for much of its length but is at ground level at the accident site, near the Maryland border.
Metro General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. said the first train was stopped, waiting for another to clear the station ahead, when the second train plowed into it from behind. It was unclear how many people were aboard.
Riders described chaos. In the train that was struck, passengers said the train had stopped three times in the moments before the crash. After the impact, many passengers had to jump from the side of the train to the ground. Other riders helped lift them down safely.
Tom Baker, 47, a District resident, was in the first car of the train that rear-ended the stopped train.
"You could hear all this crashing and glass breaking," Baker told the Washington Post. "I didn't hear any brakes at all." He said he couldn't gauge how fast the train was moving but said it was traveling at moderate speed. He saw the train lift into the air, he said.
"When the dust settled, the entire front of the train was gone" and riders could see down to the train below them.
More than 200 firefighters from D.C., Maryland and Virginia converged on the scene.
