Crime & Safety
Howard County Man Killed in Amtrak Derailment
Relative, friend said body of Bob Gildersleeve was the eighth passenger found in Philadelphia wreckage.
A Maryland man was pulled from the wreckage of Amtrak train 188 two days after it derailed north of Philadelphia, according to reports.
Bob Gildersleeve, 45, was reportedly in the first car of the train traveling from Washington to New York when it crashed off its rails late Tuesday.
Since the derailment, Gildersleeve’s family had not heard from him and his teenage son released a video asking for information about his dad.
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After officials announced they found an eighth deceased passenger in the wreckage Thursday afternoon, Gildersleeve’s aunt told New York Daily News: “They found him.”
The derailment killed eight and injured more than 140 people in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia, according to authorities, who said a total of 243 were aboard.
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On Thursday afternoon, WJZ reported 43 people were still hospitalized from the crash.
“All individuals...have now been accounted for and we know their whereabouts completely,” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
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Bob Gildersleeve Sr., 71, who lives in Florida and is the Maryland man’s father, told The New York Times that his son lived in Elkridge with his family and was bound for New York on business.
The younger Gildersleeve was vice president for corporate accounts for Ecolab, which has an office in Towson and headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., according to WBAL.
“They found his phone,” Gildersleeve’s father told NBC News Thursday morning. “But they can’t find him or his belongings.”
Cadaver-sniffing dogs were called to investigate the area of the first car Thursday morning, where the body of the eighth deceased passenger was pulled from the wreckage using hydraulic tools, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer said during a Thursday afternoon press conference.
The body was found at 8 a.m., CBS reported. A family friend confirmed to CBS that it was that of Bob Gildersleeve.
Screenshot from YouTube/NTSB.
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