Dozens of commuters were sent to the hospital in Chicago after an empty train that may have been "deliberately set in motion" plowed into a full CTA train shortly before 8 a.m. on Monday, according to ABC News.
"To the best of our knowledge, from what we know right now, there was no driver, there was no human being on that eastbound train," Anthony Calderone, mayor of Forest Park, told WLS. "Forest Park police are treating this as a crime scene."
Authorities are looking into why the empty train that was rolling east when it crashed into a westbound blue line train that passengers were boarding as it sat at the Harlem stop was on the westbound track. CTA officials believe that the accident was the result of a malfunction, according to the Chicago Tribune.
"Right now, it's looking like a mechanical malfunction," CTA union president Robert Kelly told the Tribune. "In my opinion, that train should not have gotten out of the station."
Conflicting reports are giving different numbers as to how many people were injured in the collision; CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase has said that 33 people were injured and taken to 9 hospitals while Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone has said that 48 people were injured and taken to 10 hospitals. None of the injuries are considered life threatening, according to the Tribune.
"We were stopped at Harlem and then we hear like a big boom sound and everyone started flying out of their seats," Lyneisha Fields, an 18-year-old who was taken to a hospital after hitting her head in the crash, told the Associated Press.
"I was waiting for my train. Time to go to school. I heard screaming, 'Stop the train, stop the train, slow down,'" Taylor Pettigrew, a witness to the crash, told WLS. "It seemed like the train going toward Forest Park bumped back a little bit."
The crash disrupted train service until 9:30 a.m. but service is expected to be slow on the Blue Line until the scene can be cleared since trains will be operating on one track, according to WLS.
