A commuter train taking New Yorkers home during Tuesday's evening rush hour crashed into an SUV at a track crossing in Westchester County, killing six people and wounding over a dozen others in what is being called the deadliest accident in the railroad's history.
The Metro-North train slammed into a black Jeep Cherokee that was stalled on the tracks at the Commerce Street crossing in Valhalla at around 6:30 p.m., the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told The New York Times.
The SUV and the first train car went up in flames and the track's third rail went through both the jeep and the front car, officials told Reuters.
"This is a truly ugly and brutal sight," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said of the collision that sent billows of smoke through the night.
Five train passengers and the jeep's driver were killed. Cuomo said 15 people were wounded, including seven who are in serious condition, Reuters reported.
According to preliminary reports, the crossing gates were down on top of the SUV at the time of the collision, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan told The NY Times. The driver of the jeep, which had stopped on the tracks, got out to look at the back and then got back in.
The driver was about to drive forward when the train struck, Donovan told the newspaper.
Passengers ridding the railroad's Harlem Line described hearing a loud bang followed by people rushing towards the back of the train to get out. Some jumped out of windows.
"The train screeched to a halt, and you immediately started smelling smoke," Scott Miller, who was in the second car, told The NY Times. "People started screaming, 'Run to the back of the train.' "
The federal National Transportation Safety Board is to conduct the investigation into the crash, which comes at a time Metro-North is facing scrutiny for a string of accidents, some of them deadly.
Four people died when one of its trains that was travelling three times the speed limit derailed in Dec. 2013, according to Reuters. A few months before that, over 70 people were injured when two Metro-North commuter trains collided in Connecticut.
Officials said it's too early to tell who or what is responsible for Tuesday's tragedy.
"At this early stage, it is premature to point any fingers of blame," New York Senator Charles Schumer told The NY Times, "but there are many important questions that must be answered in the coming days."