The Metro-North Railroad crash that authorities said killed six people Tuesday night in Valhalla, N.Y., also left eight people still being treated Wednesday for injuries at Westchester Medical Center.
Hospital directors said one patient was in critical condition, one was in serious condition, four were in fair condition and two were in good condition Wednesday afternoon, while four others have been released.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said five passengers on the train were killed. The driver of the sport-utility vehicle that the commuter train struck also died.
Officials at Westchester Medical Center said they declared a “mass casualty incident” minutes after hearing of the crash, and hundreds of staffers mobilized to help. Twelve patients were admitted by 7:20 p.m., and their injuries included lacerations, contusions, open fractures, dislocations, smoke inhalation and flame burns.
“Many of us take Metro-North,” said Ivan Miller, director of the hospital’s emergency department. “It does strike close to home.”
Officials on Wednesday lowered the death toll to six from seven following the crash at about 6:30 p.m. in New York’s Westchester County.
The SUV was stopped in the middle of the train tracks, and Mr. Cuomo said the oncoming train pushed the vehicle about 400 feet.
The vehicle burst into flames and then engulfed the front of the train, and the electrified third rail—which powers the railroad—penetrated the first car of the train, he said.
“It was a really brutal, horrific accident,” Mr. Cuomo said in a television interview Wednesday morning. “I’ve seen a lot of them, frankly, but this was as ugly as anything I’ve seen.”