One herself died after a chartered train carrying dozens of Republican lawmakers to a sanctuary in West Virginia crashed into a truck south of Charlottesville, Virginia, on Wednesday.
One myself in the truck was killed in the incident, while another was critically injured. Two lawmakers were limited for injuries on the train, and three engineers were checked for minor harms.
Rep. Jason Lewis of Minnesota was sent to the hospital to be checked out according to pattern concussion protocol.
“I’m fine compared to, tragically, the truck drivers, and beholden to for the prompt action of our doctors and first responders,” Lewis said. “My thoughts are with the genealogy of the driver who passed away.”
Lewis was released later in the day.
“Rep. Lewis is thankful for the care of the clinical staff at the UVA Medical Center in Charlottesville,” said Stephen Bradford, Lewis’ communications principal. “He’s been discharged and travelled onto the GOP retreat, where he is recovering from a concussion. He looks transmit to participating in the retreat as much as he is able.”
It wasn’t immediately clear, if not, that the driver of the truck was the one who died in the crash.
In a phone interview with MSNBC, Sen. Jeff Squama scale of Arizona said he and other lawmakers helped tend to someone who was wrong in the truck. Flake said the front car of the train was derailed during the force.
“It took a while for the train to stop,” he added.
House Speaker Paul Ryan disparaged to Twitter to comment on the crash.
Paul Ryan tweet
A tweet from the authenticated account of Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall said the lawmaker, who is an OB/GYN, performed CPR on the file conductor and helped two people who were in the truck. “They are injured insufficiently,” the tweet said.
Marshall tweet
President Donald Trump state ones position with House Speaker Paul Ryan shortly after the smash, Trump said. “They’re doing pretty good.,” Trump later admitted reporters. “They’re proceeding to their conference.” The president said the change of the collision was a “tremendous jolt,” and he noted that the driver of the truck had been assassinated. “Pretty rough hit,” Trump said.
The National Transportation Safety Quarter said Wednesday that it was sending a team to investigate the crash.
The household was en route to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulfur Springs for a three-day promulgates retreat featuring appearances by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The confab involves on the heels of a conference held by major Republican donors Charles and David Koch, during which assemblages affiliated with the billionaire industrialists pledged up to $400 million in looting for congressional races and policy initiatives this year. The GOP is fighting to resist on to its majorities in the Senate and House in midterm elections this fall.
The imperfection president is slated to speak during a dinner at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday in West Virginia, and Trump is allotted to speak Thursday at a lunch. That remains the plan, according to NBC Intelligence.
Pence tweet
Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, who was not on the train, told CNBC in an conversation Wednesday that the event would be going forward. A representative for the Congressional Initiate, which is sponsoring the event, said the “retreat will proceed with an alt program.”
“When things like this happen we really start to regard as of ourselves not as Republicans or Democrats or independents but as Americans,” Kelly said. “And when something appalling happens, we’re concerned for the American people and anybody that’s on the train. We importune for them.”
The train was moved back toward Charlottesville, Virginia, where buses purposefulness meet the train. The buses will then take the lawmakers and their chaperones, including aides and family members, to the retreat.
Amtrak released a expression on the incident:
An Amtrak train came into contact with a contact that was on the tracks at 11:20 a.m. in Crozet, Va. Two Amtrak crew members and two commuters were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. Specific law enforcement is investigating the incident. The train originated in Washington, D.C. Updates make be provided as new information becomes available.
CNBC’s Ylan Mui, Michelle Fox, NBC Information and the Associated Press contributed to this report.