U.S. Rep. Martha McSally said there was a “pretty strong jolt,” and then the lights went out when the chartered train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers to a Republican policy retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck in rural Virginia.
McSally was in the second-to-last rail car at the time of the crash that killed one man and injured two others in the truck.
Several minor injuries were reported on the train, which carried about 100 GOP lawmakers. They were on their way to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The collision took place in Crozet, Virginia, about 125 miles southwest of Washington, tearing the truck in two, crumpling the nose of the locomotive and scattering trash alongside the tracks, according to media reports.
After the crash, the lights immediately went out on the train. McSally, the two-term Republican from Southern Arizona, said everyone in her car remained calm as calls went out to open the emergency exits in order to render aid to the victims in the truck.
When the Amtrak train eventually stopped, McSally said she had a close-up view of the accident with the wreckage just outside of her window.
“It was an awful scene,” she said.
While McSally prayed, she was quickly joined by several members of Congress. They recited prayers as they watched congressional staffers and members of Congress — including Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake — run out to attend to the victims.
She said the focus should be on the victims, not her.
“I would encourage everyone to pray for the victims and their families,” she said.
