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TIME: Almanac 1995
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TIME Almanac 1995.iso
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1995-02-26
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<text id=91TT1772>
<title>
Aug. 12, 1991: American Notes:Disasters
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
Aug. 12, 1991 Busybodies & Crybabies
</history>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
NATION, Page 32
American Notes
DISASTERS
Death on the Silver Star
</hdr><body>
<p> Amtrak's Miami-New York Silver Star was barreling through a
predawn rainstorm at 77 m.p.h. when the last six cars suddenly
jumped the tracks and slammed into two freight cars parked on a
siding. While none of the passenger cars turned over, 25 ft. of
the Silver Star's stainless-steel skin was peeled back, ripping
out seats and killing five men and two women. "Glass and metal
were flying in," said Dave Elmers, a passenger from West Palm
Beach, Fla. "It just opened up that train like a sardine can."
Said Steven Clark, a passenger from Philadelphia who was thrown
from the train by the collision: "It was devastating."
</p>
<p> The derailment, near Camden, S.C., injured at least 78
passengers. It was the worst Amtrak accident since 1987, when
16 were killed in a wreck in Chase, Md., and is the nation's
eighth train wreck in two months. The cause of the disaster is
still unknown, but officials from the National Transportation
Safety Board suspect a faulty switch on the track. Declared New
York passenger Ann Jo Rob: "This was my first time on a train.
And this is my last time."
</p>
</body></article>
</text>