Welcome back everybody. Check on the day before. The Senate Armed Service committee is set to hold a we know Patriots Fans will be out in force to celebrate their big win. That will do it for wayway too early. Morning joe begins in a minute. Stick around. Good morning, news day, we have several stories developing right now. There was a fiery and deadly train crash last night just a few miles north of us in new york city. Heres the daily news. Horror fiery nightmare and that was during the commute. Also a horrifying plane crash
that was actually caught on video in taiwan. We will be getting to that too. Its just horrifying. And isis taking its brutality to a whole new level as a captive is burned alive. Mica, there is a lot of news and lets, why dont we start right here in new york . All right. Well start with the train crash. Several people are dead this morning after a commuter train passing through West Chester County, new york. Crashed into an suv as a Railroad Crossing on tuesday night. Last night t. Packed metro north train was speeding through the town at rush hour when it slammed into a black jeep cherokee. The driver and six people on board the train were killed in the crash and a dozen more were injured. Joining us now from valhalla new york, National Correspondent kate snow. Kate whats the very latest into how this happened . Reporter mica good morning. You know the ntsb and federal
investigators have been here all night. Theyre trying to get to the bottom of what happened here. But as you say, this is one of the busiest Commuter Rail lines in the country. This train was speeding home. Taking commuters from new york city up here to the disturbs when it hit an suv. Now, it sounds like the suv crossed onto the tracks. The woman was driving. She got out when the guard, the gate actually came down on top of her suv. So she got out of the car to check out what had happened. She was stuck between the gates on the track, then got back in her car. Tried to move forward. That when the train hit her t. Train pushed that suv for about a football field in length. So the hundreds of feet it caught fire the suv did, and the first car of the train, you can actually see it behind us here completely engulfed in flame. People on board that train, there were 600plus passengers on board mica they described it as a harrowing scene. You can imagine, the smoke
filling the train cars in the front. People trying to get out. Breaking windows, trying to escape. As you say, six people on board the train were killed including also the driver of the suv, so seven people total killed. This is a train rail that come under a lot of scrutiny mica over the past. They have had several accidents over the past few years. You may remember there was a big one in 2014 that killed four people. So i think there will be a lot of questions of what went wrong, whether it was the drivers fault or whether it could have avoided her in anyway. This is a train ride familiar so so many thousands, headed north to go home to their families in the suburbs. There are some reports this morning the third rail actually may have been ripped free and come up through the first train. Have you heard about that . Reporter yeah thats right. Last night we learned that electrified third rail that you hear about actually pierced through the first car of the train. So that made a bad situation even worse. Willie, i took this train last
night to go to my house. Not the same line. It makes you think one person tweeted. He got off. He survived the train wreck. He said i want to go home to my wife and kid. It makes you realize anything can happen. All right. Kate snow thank you so much. We go now to abc correspondent rehema ellis. Whats the latest this morning . The hospital is right there where the crash happened. They are. I can tell you its a night of high anxiety for families waiting to hear more definite word about their loved ones here at this West Chester County facility. I will have my cameraman a little bit. We went inside the hospital. We can see that there were family members waiting in the waiting area for word on what exactly was going on. We have been told again that 12 passengers were brought here. Ten of them were said to be seriously injured. We are hoping to get more word
when the sun comes up exactly what the nature of those injuries are. The governor even was on site and he said this is a tragedy, but we have to remember that there were also hundreds of people who were able to walk away from this crash. Back to you. Its a horrific scene. A number of us weresmelling the fumes from the car. We said we need to get out t. Fire was starting to spread back to the second car. It wasnt panic. People were saying stay calm. Bother people were getting more and more anxious. That when we started to get the mortgages doors and windows opened. The train came to an abrupt stop. There wasnt aannouncement that the train struck a vehicle. That was about it. Well at that point people started moving towards the back of the train. People were saying they smelled gas in the front car. It will be just an impact. We didnt really know what. I felt like the train actually jammed on its breaks really hard a couple of times and then there was a lot of scraping. Meanwhile, there is another air tragedy to report in asia. This time in taiwan where at least 13 people were killed after a commercial jet crashed shortly after takeoff this morning, incredible horrifying video, actually. Authorities say the Transasia Airlines plane clipped a bridge and crashed into a shallow river. Vacate passengers and crew were on board t. Rescue mission is still under way. Heres the video now. Officials say at least 28 people have been found alive so far. 31 of the passengers were from mainland, china. Others from taiwan. Joining us now from beijing. Ian, good morning. Good morning, joe, well that dramatic footage was shot from a dash cam of a parting car which
itself only just missed the aircraft. It came down almost on its side collided with that flyover before careering, cart wheeling into the river. Now, whats not clear is whether the pilot deliberately tried to make it into the river. He managed to make his way by a couple of apartment blocks there. The aircraft was a french built atr 72 with 58 people on board. Now, this evening, its dark now in taipei and that search for survivors continues. The fire chief of the city has confirmed that 16 people are dead but theyre still looking for another 14 who are unact accounted for theyre looking for ways to bring the fuselage to the end of the river to make those rescue efforts easier or get a pontoon out to the aircraft. Now the way it landed means that its upsidedown in the river. They believe those still inside
the fuselage were at the front of the plane when it crashed. Now, horrific scene captured by the dash cam. Im not sure what might have caused it. There is a suggestion tonight of perhaps engine failure. A recording has emerged, purporting to be the pilot saying mayday mayday engine flareout. But that cant be confirmed at this stage. Hopefully, we will know soon joe. Abcs ian williams thanks, so much. At least 28 people have been alive, which is incredible. Based on what you see right there from a moving car on the highway that 28 people survived. After moing car on the highway, when you see the apartment buildings right there. The pilot lands it in the watt. I dont know it could have saved a lot of lives. All right. Jordan is making a strong statement overnight after Islamic State militants apparently burned alive a jordanian pilot held hostage. Two al qaeda convicted prisoners are dead after they were
executed by hanging one is the iraqi woman who jordan was willing to release in exchange for that murdered pilot. The reports of the pilots gruesome death triggered demonstrations across jordan to demand justice and revenge. Lets bring in right now the chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel live from i istanbul. We were talking japan for the First Time Since 1945 actually had a Prime Minister making an aggressive statement, talking about how they were going to seek reven him, seek retribution. Now you have jordan up in arms. It really is remarkable how isolated and insulated isis may be world wide right now. But yesterday, they certainly took their horrors to a whole new level. Isis has no interest in winning friends outside the region. It is operating completely on it own objective. It believes it is establishing
this idealistic islamic stailt state that has been condemned by Muslim Leaders. Particularly today they came out strongly against this disgusting video. All of the isis videos have been disgusting, beheadings. The torture, but this one went beyond i think even the standards that isis had set for itself. The jordanian king who was in washington has now arrived back in jordan. He was received at the airport by several 00 people. Some of them holding photographs of the king and there has been a lot of support so far for the monarchy. Locked in a metal cage doused in fuel the young jordan wasnt pilot moments before being burned alive. The most savage act yet from a group known for its shocking brutality. In jordan relatives could fought contain their disgust and
grief and fury. The pilot was first leiutenant mouz kasselbe. He was cap clurd the day before christmas after ejecting on a mission to attack isis in syria. A part of the u. S. Part coalition. Jordans King Abdullah a close u. S. Allie before cutting short his washington visit. Earlier on Jordanian Television he called the murder cowardly terror by a group with no relation to islam. President obama said the killings intensifies his determination to fight isis. Should in fact this video be authentic, its just one more indication of the viciousness and barbaric this organization. Reporter and that woman who is on death row in jordan according to jordanian
officials, she has been executed along with another convicted al qaeda militant this morning. Their executions being carried out just before sunrise in jordan. Jordan Officials Say it is likely that four other al qaeda members, all of them held in jordanian jails will also be put to death. All right, nbc news Richard Engel. Thank you so much from washington. We have David Ignacious. David, you know this reminds me so much of the excesses in vatican by zawakari who was the most powerful man terrorist, he was building this death cult which, of course isis has based so much of their ideology around and then he bombed as you know im just reminding everybody else that is watching he bombed a jordanian wedding and suddenly
people in Anbar Province people across crosswalk u iraq. People across the middle east said thats not us. And it really was a turning point. That was a turning point as well. We see these images out of jordan. We hear the japanese for the First Time Since 45 talking about reven him and willie was just saying it i mean it seems they have a death wish. What do you make of the latest horrors and how long before this catches up with isis . Joe, i think you put it well. You talked about a cult of death, almost a theater of violence for this group. These are young people. They have been living a video life. That how theyre recruited. Theyre doing things creating a level of violent action that we just havent seen and it is
beginning to really make people in the arab world angry. What was strikeing to me about the killing of the Jordanian Air force leiutenant was this was a man from a tribal culture of jordan. If you look at pictures of his relatives these are simple jordan annianian jordanians. In this world, there is a code of revenge. If you kill a member of my tribe, if you do injury to my group,ly come after you with everything i got forever. You saw that look in the eyes of members of this family immediately the jordanians moved to execute two people they are holding. They will probably execute more yesterday taurking to jordanian officials here if walk they werent sure what the public reaction would be when people saw the videos. They say oh this is terrible. This isnt our fight. Lets pull back. There was some fear they might say that or would they get really angry. It turned out to be the latter. I think that Islamic State has in this case really kicked over a hornets nest with severe consequences for them for some time. I agree completely. Lets bring right now nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent and host Andrea Mitchell reports. Andrea, you have been reporting about an American Woman held hostage by the Islamic State militants. What can you tell us . Reporter well, there is very little we can report because of sensitivitys, but this is a really challenging case for the u. S. It is top of mind to the president he spoke about it to Savannah Guthrie earlier this week. The fact is that shes young. She went to syria. And she has been captured by isis since august of 2013. A 26yearold American Woman working for aid organizations
trying to help the wars millions of refugees taken hostage a year ago august. Her name hometown and organization are withheld at her parents request. But always top of mind for the white house as the president told Savannah Guthrie this week. What is being done to help ler . We are in close contact with the family trying to keep her updated. Obviously, this is something that is heart breaking for families and our obligation is to make sure we can do anything we can to try to make sure that any american citizen is rescued from this situation. Reporter but isis has wiped out borders, forcing the u. S. To rely on murky contacts and often unreliable foreign intelligent service, the only positive sign. Isis never acknowledged capturing the aid worker and executing a woman on camera might be deeply offensive to isis followers. As brutal and unpredictable as isis is they are not intent
on killing female hostages. Reporter that is the hope because of her gender because she hasnt been put on camera that she, perhaps, is not in the queue, not in the line to be killed and somehow this woman can survive. The family and the white house are working very closely together and hoping that she will escape the fate but, obviously, there are huge concerns after the incredible brutality of what happened to the jordanian pilot, what happened to the japanese and as you were just discussing with David Ignacious, it looks from the reaction in jordan and it was not clear even 48 hours ago if the pilot were to be killed how this would reflect on the king and his authority. But it seems to have so revoltd this very important tribe and the spirit in jordan right now is certainly turning promonarchy and as King Abdullah arrives home having cut short his visit, visiting with president obama just before talking off from washington last night. It seems they are rallying around. He will be making condolences to
the family today. And again, it is again, mica thank you so much andrea. It shouldnt be surprising. Again, you go back to the jordanian wedding, al zawakari blew it up. Its whether its al qaeda, whether its isis at some point this event greatly offends the very people they are trying to persuade in the middle east and its i think its it also seems they have a death wish or they have taken this life that they were negotiating. I think they do. Japan who is seeking retribution, yeah they dont have a military they can do that. Theyve got billions and billions of dollars, you know they may spend now in helping in the fight or contribute anyway they can. And, willie i want to go back quickly, somebody may have heard
andreas reporting, these people set a man on fire why wouldnt they kill a woman on tape . You remember leading the horrifying report of the paris attack charlie hebdo. There was a woman there. The guy said hey, hey, dont worry, were not going to kill you, you are a woman but you shouldnt be hanging out with these guys. Its bizarre, obviously, a set of ethic am standards. Its a bizarre standard. Are you right. They have stirred a new passion in the muslim world. When you listen to the pilots father, i think he spoke for the people. We should seek severe revenge for my son for the organization far from islam and the people of islam. David ignacious, i put the question to you now, what does this change this horeb risk innocent now the entire world has seen in the fight against isis . We have the United States which jordan was a part. Which is why the pilot was captured in the first place, now you are bringing japan into it. Does this escalate things and clang the United States aggressiveness in the fight . Well have to see about the specific military tactics, but, certainly, this begins to answer the biggest question that policymakers in washington have had, which is are the arabs really in this with us all the way . Are they prepared to mobilize their own countries . Because this isis threat will only be pushed back if the muslim citizens of jordan say, enough. We oppose this group. I am reminded of something oddly enough that was said by al qaedas leadership when zarkawi was burning so hot in jordan a decade ago and they warned that bin ladin, himself, warned you are going too far. You are making people angry. You are killing muslims. You are turning people off. Bin ladin got so upset about this violence in iraq that he wondered whether they should
change the name of the organization from al qaeda. So you do get these Tipping Points where suddenly Public Opinion switches and switched against al qaeda back then. I think we may be at one of those moments now. David you are right. Again, i keep talking about the jordanian wedding. That was one example. There were several examples with zawahiri, bin ladins number two, he kept reaching south saying this is not what you will do, this is not how you wil