Updated at 6.45pm
A CHARTERED TRAIN carrying dozens of politicians to a Republican policy retreat in West Virginia has struck a garbage truck in a rural Virginia town.
No lawmakers or aides were reported injured, but the White House said one person was killed and another was seriously injured.
Politicians said the fatality appeared to be someone who was in the truck.
One lawmaker who was aboard the train, Congressman Tom Cole, said the vehicle had been ripped in half and said he saw a person wrapped in tarp. He said emergency workers appeared to be “putting a body away”.
Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods says there were no reported injuries to passengers or crew members after the incident, which happened around 11:20am local time in Crozet, Virginia.
Crozet is about 15 miles west of Charlottesville.
Cole said he felt “a tremendous jolt” when the accident occurred, nearly two hours after it left Washington headed to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
The policy retreat, an annual event, is scheduled to last three days and feature speeches from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Cole said the train stopped quickly after impact. He said several GOP lawmakers who are doctors got off the train to assist.
House Speaker Paul Ryan was on the train and was unhurt, aides said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump was briefed on the accident.
“There is one confirmed fatality and one serious injury,” but no injuries to lawmakers or their staffs, she said.
Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone that has been affected by this incident.
Congressman James Comer said about 100 Republican lawmakers were on the train when the crash occurred, which made him jump out of his seat.
“I looked out the side of the window and then I could see a truck, just in pieces out the side of the window,” Comer said.
It was a garbage truck that was apparently, I would assume, trying to cross the tracks.
Comer said Capitol Police quickly jumped off the train, but came back and asked for any doctors to help. A GOP aide said the train seemed partially derailed.
It was not clear when lawmakers would resume the trip to their retreat.
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