See there, an area where a railway car is flattened on the ground. We are told there are multiple fatalities in this, we dont know the number of fatalities or the number of injuries. We can tell you they are still working alive rescue scene on the multiple cars you see dangling off that overpass. Out of sight from the view of the cameras now, the county sheriffs officer that was there giving an update a short time ago, we have had a couple of days earlier. We were told 34 additional cars are upside down, landed off that train line in a wooded area there. This is massive. We know the number of people aboard the train has reportedly now gone up. 78 total we are told were there including five crew members. That of course is according to amtrak. You have 78 passengers plus five crew, the situation of them trying to get people out and if there are fatalities, where they can get to them. They will do so as quickly as possible. We are told this will be a rescue and recovery operation, it is precarious at best. Uco car perched however delicately but certainly dangerously, thats a lot of weight on that overpass and they are working to get people as best they can. Our chief correspondent Jonathan Hunt is live from our west coast bureau and he has been getting details and among them is this idea, an interview from a nearby mayor of a nearby town who nearly forecast this. That interview was conducted two weeks ago by a tv station in the area. Mayor don anderson is the mayor of lakewood, immediately south of lakewood that this terrible accident happened. He warned two weeks ago that some sort of accident with this new highspeed Train Service was all but inevitable. He called for further safety upgrades beyond what the Washington Department of transport said it had spent on the track upgrade. We dont know precisely what part of track this train was on. What we do know is this, amtrak 501. This was about 10 minutes late. The last stop before this accident, it was running close to 30 minutes late. It left the new inaugural station at around 7 30, 10 minutes later, 7 40, this terrible crash happened. We know from what we can tell that there is a curve at least very close to the site around the golf course and this overpass over the very busy i5. That is where the accident happened. You can see one car dangling very clearly from that overpass. Flat across the i5, crouched in another car and behind that overpass, another 34 cars on the ground. That sheriffs spokesman gave a rather chilling quote to one of the local tv stations up there, saying it wasnt survivable, unfortunately. What we know is there are multiple fatalities, we simply do not know, we know there are multiple people injured. Theyve been taken to several hospitals in the area. I can tell you, the hospitals receiving victims of this crash would be the madigan army medical center, a sprawling military base near where this happened. They are requesting blood donor donors. They are asking for the military community to respond and give blood. Harris the news tribune on the west coast is reporting 78 passengers, five crew members on the train. I think this will also mirror our updates at the bottom of the screen where viewers can see it. Jonathan i am seeing, also the names of the hospital, 77 patients being treated, 78 passengers, five crew. It is a high casualty rates, that can be injuries as well. Thats a lot. It does match what experts have been telling us this morning about the severity of that drop, that impact point of those cars going off the overpass. We do not have a number of people who perished in this, we dont have a direct number of people who have been injured. Those numbers, when you have a total of 83 people and 77 go to the hospital, that is a high hurt rate if not more than that. Obviously anybody who was in those cars that came completely off the track is going to be very badly hurt indeed. But if you think of the impact of this sound of the way train comes to a halt, even those in the car which did not come off the track would have been hurtled forward in their seats. Anybody who traveled on amtrak will know very well there are no seat belts in any of these cars. Anybody would feel the impact of that. Some people would be thrown forward violently. Its not hard to imagine that almost every Single Person writing on that train, 78 passengers, five crew were heard in some manner and will be seeking treatment at nearby hospitals. Harris those are excellent points and observations to make. What we do know right now is the Sheriffs Department of Pierce County is there, a go team will be leaving shortly washington, d. C. , verified that for us a little while ago. We will come back to you, things are changing rapidly on the ground. Jonathan hunt will be our point person, we will talk with you in a bit. Oliver mcgee is a Civil Engineer and former u. S. Deputy assistant secretary of transportation and technology policy. Im glad you were able to give us your expertise on this today. First of all, i want to get your thoughts about the injury rate we were just talking about. Thank you for having me this morning, looking at the casualty rate, its higher because of the cars being thrown off the bridg bridge. There is really no guard rail containment. They really need to have those type of railings for containmen containment. Associated with getting some sort of positive train control in place on this new rail system, they were probably trying to get back in and when you have six tracks active wind speeds, on the highest speed you need to have communication associated with the speed. Negotiating this particular bridge. Also communicating with controls and interference. The second most highest rate, is human factor error. What you see at the faa, you have to think, is this like an airplane crash . Those factors can take a play. You need this technology with positive train control and Communication Technology when you involve these highspeed rail systems really, over europe highspeed rails are 325 miles an hour. We need that technology to prove all of these communications. Harris i dont think its possible that you probably wouldve read the transcript of the mayors interview from lakewood, washington, two weeks ago. What im hearing you say echoes of part i have highlighted here in the coverage of that city meeting, city leaders were expressing dire concern. Im just going to read a little bit. Right now passenger trains including amtrak cascades must slow down due to curves and singletrack tunnels on the Railway Mainline track. And we know thats the area where this is, those iconic views of puget sound. This project reroutes passenger trains, bypass rail line along i5. The proposed route is the same. They were talking out of experience about the speed line they were putting in and your comments seem to support some of this, your thoughts . Sometimes money coming down from the federal level takes a little time to get down and thats why the Technology Meets the road or the aircraft meets the sky. When we talk about this discussion after the tax bill, the infrastructure bill coming in, i think this is going to rise the discussion up in Congress Much higher. They are asking 100 million in the next ten years and right now these pictures tell us we need the development right now. Its not only crashing but tumbling over a bridge but it needs railings, it needs all kinds of construction because what you see before you is the intersection of the rail system and the interstate highway. They need Infrastructure Development so we can stop these things from intersection. My condolences go to the families right now. Harris you have looked at this in much the same way a city leaders, saying this will elevate that infrastructure conversation thats going on at the highest level in the white house. Oliver mcgee, Civil Engineer. We are glad to have you this hour, thank you very much. If you were just joining us on outnumbered overtime, i want to explain what you are seeing. To the right its a little bit older pictures by a few minutes or an hour, you see their rescue board on the right side of your screen, First Responders getting there. A couple of ambulances, we know some 77 people have gone from local hospitals from the scene, dupont, washington. A Train Derailment along an iconic route, brandnew today. Out of seattle, passing through i should say a left from tacoma, the ribboncutting. Leaving from seattle and on down south. Catastrophe at this point, we are told by local officials that there are multiple fatalities in all of this and we know the ntsb has a briefing plan for 2 30 p. M. Eastern. The ntsb, we will be watching and carry that live as well. A spokesperson for the Pierce CountySheriffs Department joins us as we are so glad you are with us right now because weve been getting updates from the ground. What can you tell us is the latest . Right now we believe everybody is off the train except for the ones fatally injured and theyve transported everybody out of here. You can see by the photos, this is the bridge that intersects with southbound i5. There are cars upside down and trucks and vehicles that collided when the train came off the bridge. Multiple jurisdictions responded including our military base out here. This is the one of the things that all agencies across the country prepare for and hope nothing ever happens but unfortunately it happened here. They were able to clear the train out very quickly, got passengers out on the way to family reunification spots and get the injured to the hospital. Unfortunately there are some fatalities. As far as the numbers go, the state patrol will be putting those numbers out later today harris this is the first time weve heard it confirmed, what was happening on interstate five. Weve been very focused on the train because that is what derailed on this day. What witnesses told us in the very beginning, talk to me about that scene. And how you have secured it this way. It is a huge accident. Some of the trains go into the woods, still dangling by a thread over there i5. Upside down train cars over the freeway. When that occurs, they had multiple people at the same time. They did a great job. The traffic rerouted but now, the investigation into how this occurred will be done by the ntsb and state patrol, keeping everybody uptodate on numbers as we move forward. Harris i was trying to crunch the numbers, 78 passengers, five crew members. I understand you had extrication, multiple extrication going on with cars and trucks on the actual freeway. Injuries on the ground and injuries on the train. Correct. I think those numbers are total numbers of people who are transported from the scene, a lot of people were transported walking with blankets to the reunification spot and they are not injured. Thats how many people were transported from the scene, a good majority were heading to see family members. Harris what part of the train at the most severe injuries . People are wondering, we heard it may not be survivable from one of the officials on the ground and those are very chilling words. I want to really understand where the danger points were on that train. If you look at the paintings on the side of the train, they are clear i dont need to go back into those trains yet. As far as which train the people were injured and has yet to be determined. From looking at this i cant see, that would just be a bad judgment call on our end. Harris we heard some reports, maybe you can confirm this about the configuration inside the train. No seat belts, you may have had some people with items on their labs, overhead bins options are i guess very slim. Can you speak to any of that . It talks about what it may have been like for people inside that train. I have no idea, none of us have any information on that ye yet. The people that understand that, talked about that to be honest with you, looking at some of these train cars on the road, they probably werent in the condition they are now so you wouldnt be able to tell. Harris i know you still have i5 and that area blocked off in both directions, correct . I5 southbound is 100 completely block. Harris you got some traffic going there northbound only. A lot of First Responders on the ground, this is hugely importan important. We will continue to cover the story as it happens. Spokesperson for the Pierce CountySheriffs Department responding, thank you. Thank you. Harris joining us now as a witness weve just gotten in, train derailed moments before he wouldve driven under that interstate five bridge. Tell me if you could what you saw. To begin with, i thought it was odd to see the passenger train on that track. I travel that highway and ive never seen that, that caught my attention. On the highway we all had to go, many times you have to come to a complete stop and try to avoid people on the highways to avoid a collision. We looked up to see the train and the condition it is, one of them hanging off. Another on the highway, traveling where we were going. Impacted by that train car coming off. It was unreal. Harris and i witnessed with us now, you are describing what you could see in terms of the train but from the very first time, we got to hear what it was like on the ground. What was it like . After i think people realize what happened, they got out to rush and see what they could do and if they could help. That location is just south and there were several military personnel who ran there and wanted to help immediately. It was a little bit of pride to seeing all folks. Harris they were on foot . People were kind of im trying to understand the scene. The Sheriffs Department was saying you had semi truck trailers upside down. This was a horrific scene. You can imagine, we are starting to see the emergency sides of the highway. We are all stuck now because of the traffic. As soon as you look and you see, people are going to see if they can help. A lot of military personnel they are asking for people who had first aid kits, clothing, towels, anything that could help it. We were looking around our cars trying to find things to help as best we could. Harris you are getting out of your car. People are there on the ground. Where people asking for help, people are trying to get out of those cars. It was very eerily silent to be honest, i dont remember a lot of noises are people saying anything. On an occasion like that, you are looking up, you see a train track coming down to a highway and people are definitely shocked. People coming back definitely asked for first aid kits, i didnt see anybody in the train cars, i didnt see anybody injured on the ground from where i was standing, it was probably more eerily quiet than you would imagine. Harris we are looking at the scene now, a much closer Vantage Point of the crush of train cars as they came off that bridge, they can see the paint weve heard officials describing where they mark the car and move onto the next one. We now have a close enough live shot to be able to see the car they have already gone through. We are told they will leave the people who did not survive on the train while they completely get everybody off and we know from the Sheriffs Department that they feel they have gotten people out of the train cars, they mark them with this paint that you see to the right of your screen above the flashing lights and they move on. Our greg mckay was there, we are certainly thankful you were safe and that others got out of their cars. You mentioned some of our servicemen and women coming to the scene because its nearby, we appreciate those details, thank you. Thank you. Harris Jonathan Hunts live in our west coast bureau, he is our correspondent this hour and he has no information, jonathan . Harris, you mentioned the sprawling military facility very close to where this action happened. On that base is the madigan army medical center, we just got a statement from the center i want to read, part of what it says. While we anticipate more patients this morning, nine patients are currently in serious but stable condition and 11 are in fair and stable condition. Family members of patients are welcome to come to our emergency room, we will assist in finding your family member. We will release our information as we can confirm it. The headline there, nine in a serious but stable condition at madigan army medical center. Remember we are only talking about one of the hospitals receiving victims but nine in serious, stable condition. Sort of chilling words for anybody watching this, family members of patients welcome to come to the emergency room, we will facilitate finding your family members. It just points to the terror that so many families knowing their loved ones were on this train will be going through now as they try to find out how they are doing and indeed where they are. Frightening time for anybody that knows anybody. Harris all of this gives us a better picture on what was going on on the ground. I mentioned earlier, a spokesperson for the Sheriffs Department who joined us live, we had less of an idea what was happening on the actual interstate five and we did the trains necessarily. But now learning of all the cars that were upside down, semi trucks overturned on the freeway and the injuries, the level of injuries playing out as this was happening gives us a little more texture. In terms of just how bad this accident would have been. You are reporting on that base, that is giving us information on what some of the options are that are very nearby, that level two trauma center. I want to get to something the ap is now supporting which is very significant in this. Theyve gone to a web site called transit. Com which was posting in realtime the speed of this train. According to the Associated Press, the train was traveling at 81. 1 miles per hou hour, this has been from transit docs. Com, web site using data from the railroads train. The maximum speed along the stretch of track where the accident happened, known as the point defined is 79 Miles Per Hour according to washington States Department of transport . The information of this train was to going at 2. 1 Miles Per Hour over the speed limit for that stretch o