At least three people were killed and dozens were injured in western Washington Monday morning after an Amtrak train derailed and fell off a bridge over Interstate 5 between Lakewood and Olympia.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office says there were fatalities on the train and that motorists had been injured, but not killed.
Several vehicles were struck and the extent of the injuries is not yet known, though officials say more than 70 people have been sent to area hospitals.
The southbound lanes of Interstate 5 were completely blocked by the train, which derailed around 8 AM. Amtrak tweeted that the train that derailed was train Number 501 in its inaugural run, which left Seattle for Portland at 6 AM.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee has called a state of emergency in response to the derailment.
According to Washington State Department of Transportation, the train was running down a new bypass created to avoid slow curves and single track tunnels on the BNSF Railway main line tracks near Point Defiance and along southern Puget Sound.
Monday morning was the first time Amtrak trains used the new Point Defiance Bypass route, the culmination of a $181 million project that began in 2010. (Seattle Times, AP)
