One of the victims was identified as Zack Willhoite, a local transit buff participating in the first run on a new high-speed train route.
Photos from inside the derailed Amtrak cars in Washington state show a grizzly scene of mangled metal and broken windows.
Survivor Chris Scholl snapped photos from inside the Amtrak 501 train that derailed near Dupont, Wa., on Monday morning, killing at least three people.
One of the victims were identified by friends and relatives as Zack Willhoite, a local transit buff participating in the first run on a new high-speed train route between Seattle and Portland, Ore.
They were among the 78 passengers riding the train, which officials said was moving at 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, when nearly all of its cars were dislodged. Several fell onto the I-5 freeway below, injuring several motorists.
Scholl, who works in insurance claims, stayed inside his mangled car to help the injured.
“We had made sure everyone in our car was OK and had gotten one of the windows open,” he told ABC News .
Scholl decided to document the damage while others phoned authorities.
“I work in insurance as a claim handler so it seemed like something that someone should do,” he told the network. “I was mostly trying to stay calm and think of the things to do that other people wouldn’t or couldn’t.”
His photos showed several cracked windows, a caved-in roof and an overhead luggage rack knocked down atop the car’s brown leather seats.
Five crew members were also aboard the train, which was about 20 miles south of Tacoma when it derailed after 7:30 a.m. Monday.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators haven’t released a cause for the horrific accident.
Willhoite was a rail enthusiast who worked for Pierce County’s transit service, according to Chris Karnes, who chairs the system’s advisory committee.
Pierce Transit later confirmed his death, saying he worked in IT for the service since 2008.
“He has always been deeply appreciated and admired by his colleagues, and played an important role at our agency,” Pierce Transit said in a statement. “He will be sincerely missed.”
Kevin R. Cartwright posted the news of his passing to a transit-focused Facebook group of which, he was, Willhoite was a member.
“We lost an angel today, and we will never forget Zack’s contributions to our hobby,” Cartwright wrote.
“May he Rest In Peace and smile with us from afar as we fondly remember him and recount the good memories with which he has left us,” he wrote.
