Yahoo Movies GoFundMe launched for two of the four victims killed in Missouri Amtrak train crash
A GoFundMe page has been launched to help pay for funeral expenses for two of the four people killed in the Amtrak train crash in rural Missouri.
The fundraiser said four women were traveling to Chicago for a four-day getaway. Two of the women were killed Monday after the train struck a dump truck at an uncontrolled crossing in Mendon, Missouri.
The other two women were among the 150 passengers who were injured, the post said.
“They were excited to be on their first trip together in many years,” GoFundMe page organizer James Hart wrote.
The fundraiser, which was verified by the company, had received $3,875 of its $15,000 goal as of Wednesday morning.
Authorities have not publicly identified the four people who died.
The crash was reported at about 12:43 p.m. Monday about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The Amtrak train was traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago and carrying approximately 275 passengers and 12 crew members. Two passengers aboard the train were killed as rail cars tumbled off the tracks, landing on their side. A person in the dump truck also was killed.
A third passenger later died at University Hospital in Columbia, authorities said Tuesday.
Some of the passengers were taken to Northwestern High School in Mendon after the crash. Several there told The Star of a harrowing experience as they expressed gratitude for the response of emergency medical workers and thanks to escape with their lives.
The train crashed at an uncontrolled railroad crossing, meaning no lights or moving barriers were present to warn the public of an approaching train.
On Tuesday afternoon, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said that the federal agency has recommended lights and bells bells at crossings since the late 1990s.
About half of the country’s crossings remain passive crossings.
“We still don’t see action on that. It’s been 24 years and that recommendation is still as important today as it was in 1998. Lives could be saved,” Homendy said.
A state report issued in February showed the crossing where the deadly crash occurred was due for those upgrades — a project analysis ballparked the cost at around $400,000 — and neighbors told The Star on Monday that concerns have been raised there for years.
Homendy said the NTSB was beginning its investigation by examining the events leading up to the crash. Evidence gathering was to include a digital download of information from the on-board recording system, Homendy said, which would show factors such as the use of the train horn, the speed of the train before impact and how the brakes were applied.
The safety board did not have any concerns about mechanical issues on the train or the tracks, she said.
