Here’s the NTSB’s Amtrak Derailment Injury Data
AP | Patrick Semansky
The National Transportation Safety Board has released extensive information regarding the injuries suffered by passengers in May’s Amtrak train derailment, which killed eight people. The list is dishearteningly long and documents each individual injury that was recorded. Many passengers were treated for multiple injuries from head to toe.
The data list the age, sex, height, and weight of passengers who received medical treatment, and classify the injuries by severity, using the Injury Severity Score (ISS). The injuries ranged from abrasions and lacerations to fractures and muscle tears, and the ages of injured passengers ranged from 12 to 79.
A 47-year-old male was reported to have suffered 16 separate injuries including a fractured tibia and fractures to two of his teeth.
Out of the 172 medical records or autopsy reports the NTSB reported, one quarter of the patients were diagnosed with “serious” injuries, while 113 people sustained minor injuries. Of the eight fatalities, three were seated in the first car of the train, and it is not known which cars the other five decedents rode in. Most of the serious injuries were sustained by passengers in the front three cars.
The train derailed at 9:21 p.m., and efforts to transport patients to area hospitals began immediately after. Fifty-nine patients arrived at hospitals before 11 p.m., 80 arrived between 11 and midnight, and another 17 after midnight. Temple University Hospital received the most patients among those in the area.
The NTSB’s report attempted to briefly sum up the final numbers: “With 253 people on the train at the time of the derailment, 7 died of injuries at the scene, one died in the emergency department, and 185 were reported to have been seen in 10 local hospitals.”
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Read the NTSB’s reports below.
Amtrak Crash Medical Injury Factual Report by PhiladelphiaMagazine
Amtrak Crash Injury Description by PhiladelphiaMagazine
