The Amtrak Regional 188 was traveling to New York from Washington, D.C., and carrying approximately 238 passengers and 5 crew members when the train derailed at around 9:30 p.m.
"It is an absolute disastrous mess. Never seen anything like this in my life," Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter told reporters after visiting the scene of the crash.
Six train cars overturned in the crash, flinging passengers and luggage around the interior, survivors and officials said.
"Chairs inside the train became unscrewed and suitcases were falling on people," said Max Helfman, 19, who was returning home to New Jersey when the train car he was in flipped over.
"My mother flew into me and I literally had to catch her," he said. "People were bleeding from their head. It was awful."
The front of the train was going into a turn when it shook, witnesses said. Two sources told NBC News the train went off the track at a point where a 70 mph stretch goes into a 50 mph curve, but they cautioned it is too early to know whether the curve or speed were a factor.
"We were rolling along nice and smooth and then all of a sudden we were on our side," passenger Don Kelleher told
Janelle Richards, an "NBC Nightly News" producer, was on the train and said all of a sudden she heard a loud crash and people flew up in the air. There was a lot of smoke as passengers began trying to get out of the car — a man was able to force a door open in the rear just enough to get out, she said.
Police swarming the Port Richmond area where the crash occurred were telling people to get back. There was a fear that the train car may tip over or that the tracks might still be dangerous, Richards said.
"Everyone was moving as far away from that train as they could as more and more people were filing out," she said.
Firefighters called out a four-alarm response to the "mass-casualty event," and hundreds of firefighters and police officers responded to the scene. Several people were trapped in train cars and had to be freed with hydraulic tools, Sawyer said.
"I`ve never seen anything so devastating. They`re in pretty bad shape," Sawyer said of the train cars.
"You can see that they`ve completely, completely derailed from the track," Sawyer said. "They`ve been destroyed completely. The aluminum shell has been destroyed, and they`ve been overturned completely. It is a devastating scene."
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Railroad Administration said it is sending teams to the crash site.
The investigation is in its early stages, but there is nothing to suggest the derailment was anything other than an accident at this time, a spokeswoman for the NTSB said.
Amtrak said anyone with loved ones who may have been on the train can call 1-800-523-9101 for information. Service along the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and New York is suspended.
Patrick Murphy was on the train and says he has been helping people. He has been tweeting photos of firefighters helping people in the wreckage. "Pray for those injured," he said.
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