A victim is wheeled on a stretcher out of the Hoboken station following a train crash in New Jersey, the United States on Sept. 29, 2016. One person was confirmed killed and 108 others injured after a transit train crashed into New Jersey's Hoboken station during the morning rush hour Thursday. (Xinhua/Gary Hershorn)
One person was confirmed killed and 108 others injured after a transit train crashed into New Jersey's Hoboken station during the morning rush hour Thursday.
The person killed in the crash was a woman standing on the platform, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said here at a press conference, adding that the victim was killed by debris.
Among the 108 injured, 74 of them were hospitalized, he added.
The Chinese Consulate General in New York confirmed that one Chinese citizen was injured in the New Jersey train accident.
The Chinese Consulate General told Xinhua the injured Chinese has received initial treatment at hospital and that the injuries were not life-threatening. The Consulate General has made contact with the family of the injured.
Currently, Consular staff were rushing to other local medical institutions to verify the possibility of other Chinese citizens injured in the accident.
The Consulate General said it would continue to follow up the situation and provide timely assistance to the affected Chinese.
Meanwhile, the engineer involved in the train crash was in critical condition and cooperating with investigators, said Christie, adding that no signs had so far indicated that the crash was anything but a "tragic accident."
The train plowed into Hoboken station just before 9:00 a.m. local time (1300 GMT) with around 250 passengers on board. Hoboken station, which sits 11 kilometers outside New York city, is a hub for commuters to switch for Manhattan.
All trapped people have been rescued from the train wreckage, according to local media reports. Jersey City Medical Center officials said they have seen 40 walk-in patients from the crash, with 11 patients in the emergency department.
Hoboken University Medical Center officials said they received 22 patients from the crash, including five with lacerations and three fractures.
"Initial reports indicate multiple critical injuries," said the New Jersey Transit in a statement.
"At approximately 8:45 a.m. local time, train 1614, a Pascack Valley line departure from Spring Valley operating to Hoboken, struck the Hoboken Terminal building on track 5," said the statement.
A large part of station roof has collapsed amid heavy and extensive damage to the train and the station due to the crash. Twisted piles of metal and bricks as well as other debris are scattered across the platform, pictures on social media show.
Preliminary reports suggested the crash was an accident or caused by operator error, though it was early in the investigation.
Some witnesses said the train went into the station at a speed "faster than usual."
The train "went right through the barriers and into the reception area," Radio station WFAN anchor John Minko said earlier.
"As I get closer, I started to realize people bleeding everywhere, wobble around. First responders started to come. A very very sad situation," witness Brian Campbell said. "There was water pouring at the train, the train looked terrible."
Mr. Rosenthal, a Hoboken resident who lives just blocks away from the station, told Xinhua that the town hadn't seen any major train accident like this for the past 20 years.
"It was tragic and terrible," said Rosenthal, adding that he decided to work at home for the day due to the expected traffic turmoil triggered by the accident.
Several fast food stores and bars close to the scene put out free coffee and mineral water on the roadside for the emergency response staff passing by.
"The train came in at much too high rate of speed, and the question is: 'Why is that?'" Christie said.
The New Jersey governor said there is no indication so far that the crash was anything but a "tragic accident," but noted it was too early to make assumptions.
The train was not equipped with Positive Train Control (PTC) technology that can automatically slow down trains when they exceed the speed limit on a stretch of track and therefore could have prevented it from roaring off the rails, according to a NBC news report.
The absence of PTC was blamed by the National Transportation Safety Board for the 2015 derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia that left eight people dead. The New Jersey Transit has a Dec. 31, 2018 deadline for putting this technology in place.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said federal rail investigators have arrived on site. All rail services have been suspended in and out of Hoboken after the crash.
