Pierce Transit employee killed in train derailment

One of the people killed when a train derailed in Pierce County Monday was a Pierce Transit employee, according to an official statement.

Train passenger: ‘The world went completely topsy turvy’

Chris Karnes, chair of Pierce Transit’s Community Transportation Advisory Group, tweeted early Tuesday morning about the death of “rail aficionado” Zack Willhoite. Hours later, Pierce Transit published an official statement:

The entire Pierce Transit team was deeply saddened to learn that one of our employees was a victim of the Dec. 18 Amtrak train accident. IT Customer Service Support Specialist Zack Willhoite has been a Pierce Transit employee since 2008. He has always been deeply appreciated and admired by his colleagues, and played an important role at our agency. He will be sincerely missed. Our thoughts are with Zack’s family, as well as the families of the other victims, during this very difficult time.

The train, which was making the inaugural run of a new high-speed Amtrak route from Seattle to Portland, derailed at an I-5 overpass Monday morning. According to a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, data from the train shows the train was traveling “at 80 mph on a 30 mph track.”

According to the latest count, there were 80 passengers and five crew members on the train that consisted of 12 cars and two locomotives. Three people have been confirmed killed. Seventy-two people were hospitalized when all but one locomotive left the tracks — 10 were in serious condition and another 13 had minor to moderate injuries. Only 19 people walked away uninjured.

More coverage

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>>President Trump tweets about deadly train derailment

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