Hotline #699-A - December 17, 1991

Amtrak train 87, the southbound Tampa section of the Silver Meteor, derailed this morning at 11:25 am Easter Time at Palatka, Fla. No cause has been determined. Amtrak reports that 39 of the 173 passengers on board were taken to three area hospitals; four of them appeared to have serious injuries. The locomotive derailed and two coaches derailed, but remained upright in a jack-knife position, and the rear two coaches did not derail at all. The locomotive struck an unoccupied house next to the tracks. Investigators are on the way to the scene. CSX doesn't know when the line will be clear, so in the meantime everything detours through Ocala.