Investigators probe deadly Amtrak derailment in Montana

By AMY BETH HANSON, MARTHA BELLISLE and ANITA SNOW
Associated Press

JOPLIN, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials sent a team of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board to the site of an Amtrak derailment in north-central Montana that killed three people and left seven hospitalized Sunday. The westbound Empire Builder was en route to Seattle from Chicago, with two locomotives and 10 cars, when it left the tracks about 4 p.m. Saturday near Joplin, about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. Amtrak said the train was carrying about 141 passengers and 16 crew members. Eight cars derailed. Five of the injured were taken to a hospital in Great Falls and another two were in a hospital in Kalispell.