Video: Train crashes into car in New York, electrified rail pierces through; 6 dead

New York, Feb 5: Six persons were killed after hundreds of feet of electrified third rail pierced into the first two carriages of a Metro-North train in New York after it hit a car stuck at a railroad crossing near the suburb of White Plains, north of New York City, on Tuesday evening.

Federal investigators were trying to find out how the car got stuck at the crossing. The vehicle was dragged about 1,000 feet by the speeding train after the collision.

Of the six dead, five were passengers of the train while the other was the driver of the car. Eric Vandercar, a financial trader and Walter Liedtke, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, were among the dead.

The third rail broke into pieces after the impact and penetrated the first train compartment and a fire, that was caused by the car's fuel, gutted the carriage. A section of the rail even pierced into the second carriage.

Sources in the National Transportation Safety Board said they were gathering evidence and are likely to release data from the recorder of the ill-fated train on Thursday.

Oneindia News