After Wash. Amtrak Derailment, JBLM Soldiers Rushed To Help

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA - Second Lt. Robert McCoy watched Amtrak train No. 501 as it sped alongside I-5 at about 80 MPH heading toward a curve in the tracks and a bridge over the freeway. He watched as the train hit the curve and went off the rails.

"It fell off the bridge and kept coming and coming," he recalled on Tuesday at a press conference. "The first thing I was seeing was the train dangling - that was my focus, seeing this train dangling."

McCoy, an army medic, stopped his truck, grabbed his tourniquet kit and CPR mask, and then ran to assist people who had been ejected from the train onto the highway.

"They were my main focus," he said.

As if by miracle, McCoy and others with first aid training, including a neurosurgeon, witnessed the derailment. Also at the scene, Lt. Col. D. Christopher Sloan climbed up the rail car seen dangling in photos of the wreck to rescue passengers.

Three people died and more than 70 were wounded in the derailment. Following the crash, 19 victims were taken to Madigan Army Medical Center at JBLM for treatment. About 20 victims were still in critical or serious condition Tuesday night at hospitals around Puget Sound.

In addition to the soldiers, Daniel Konzelman, 24, an Eagle Scout, helped people get off the train; and Portland neurosurgeon Dr. Nathan Selden was able to treat an infant at the scene.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, the train was traveling 50 MPH over the speed limit in that area. Investigators are also looking into whether the engineer was distracted by a conductor-trainee who was in the locomotive.

Image via Washington State Patrol