The engineer killed in Sunday’s Amtrak crash in South Carolina was
shaken by a previous accident and sought help, his relatives claim.
Michael Kempf was driving a train that hit a car at a grade crossing about a year ago during his typical route in the Carolinas, his mother, Catherine Kempf, told The Associated Press.
The veteran engineer was bothered by the event, which she couldn’t recall much about, because “he had people’s lives in his hands,” recalled his mother, who lived with Kempf in Savannah, Ga. He met with a counselor to discuss the ordeal.
Kempf, 54, and conductor Michael Cella, 36, were killed early Sunday when their Miami-bound Amtrak train collided with an idle CSX train. More than 100 of the 147 aboard were injured.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Monday night that CSX, which controls the tracks, had its signal system down to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology.
Those signals would have alerted the train to halt before getting to the switch, which was padlocked to move to the side track, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Monday night.
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Kempf's younger brother, Rich, told the Daily News this week that he’d complained of stress from past accidents, but alleged Amtrak disregarded his pleas.
“He was voicing concerns about getting killed,” Rich Kempf, who lives in Mesa, Ariz., told the News on Sunday. "They’d push him right back on a train again.”
Amtrak previously declined to confirm whether Kempf had recently been in other accidents, or received counseling for the incidents.
Cella, a married father of two, lived with his family in Florida.
“There’s just ... it’s too much right now,” his wife, Christine, told the AP.
Train 91, which left out of New York, was diverted to a side track just south of Columbia, S.C., Sunday when it crashed into the freight train at about 2:35 a.m.
Frantic 911 calls obtained by local media paint a harrowing picture inside the train’s dislodged cars.
“There are babies with their heads busted wide open bleeding, it’s crazy - we need help,” one passenger says in a call obtained by local NBC affiliate WIS-TV.
The passenger believed the train was just 10 minutes away from Savannah, Ga., when it was actually about 150 miles away.
Many aboard the train were asleep at the time of the crash, and awoke after it hit the CSX train head on.
An Amtrak employee also phoned 911 and couldn’t describe where the train was.
“People are hurt,” a passenger says in one call obtained by CBS affiliate WLTX. “There’s blood. I can't even walk.”
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Michael Kempf was driving a train that hit a car at a grade crossing about a year ago during his typical route in the Carolinas, his mother, Catherine Kempf, told The Associated Press.
The veteran engineer was bothered by the event, which she couldn’t recall much about, because “he had people’s lives in his hands,” recalled his mother, who lived with Kempf in Savannah, Ga. He met with a counselor to discuss the ordeal.
Kempf, 54, and conductor Michael Cella, 36, were killed early Sunday when their Miami-bound Amtrak train collided with an idle CSX train. More than 100 of the 147 aboard were injured.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Monday night that CSX, which controls the tracks, had its signal system down to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology.
Those signals would have alerted the train to halt before getting to the switch, which was padlocked to move to the side track, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Monday night.
Lululemon announces CEO’s resignation, citing unspecified misconduct
Kempf's younger brother, Rich, told the Daily News this week that he’d complained of stress from past accidents, but alleged Amtrak disregarded his pleas.
“He was voicing concerns about getting killed,” Rich Kempf, who lives in Mesa, Ariz., told the News on Sunday. "They’d push him right back on a train again.”
Amtrak previously declined to confirm whether Kempf had recently been in other accidents, or received counseling for the incidents.
Cella, a married father of two, lived with his family in Florida.
“There’s just ... it’s too much right now,” his wife, Christine, told the AP.
Train 91, which left out of New York, was diverted to a side track just south of Columbia, S.C., Sunday when it crashed into the freight train at about 2:35 a.m.
Frantic 911 calls obtained by local media paint a harrowing picture inside the train’s dislodged cars.
“There are babies with their heads busted wide open bleeding, it’s crazy - we need help,” one passenger says in a call obtained by local NBC affiliate WIS-TV.
The passenger believed the train was just 10 minutes away from Savannah, Ga., when it was actually about 150 miles away.
Many aboard the train were asleep at the time of the crash, and awoke after it hit the CSX train head on.
An Amtrak employee also phoned 911 and couldn’t describe where the train was.
“People are hurt,” a passenger says in one call obtained by CBS affiliate WLTX. “There’s blood. I can't even walk.”
read more
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