Around 10:30 this morning, a group of Congress members from the Republican Party were headed to a legislative retreat in West Virginia when a garbage truck attempted to cross the tracks in front of the train - causing a collision of the two. According to ABC News, the collision resulted in the death of the driver of the truck and five others taken to the hospital for injuries.

All reports state that other than minor injuries, all members of Congress and their families are doing fine. East Texas' own Louis Gohmert was on the train and made it out OK, and spoke to Tyler Paper about the specifics of what happened.


He said when the train hit, there was a huge "jerk", and that the train didn't actually come to a complete stop until after the collision.

“It was such a loud crash,” he said. “Everybody was absolutely jolted.”

 

Gohmert believes that the reason there weren't more fatalities and injuries was because the train did not derail.
“That’s where you would’ve had potentially hundreds of very serious injuries if not fatalities,” he said."

Several members of Congress who have previous medical training assisted those who were injured. More information on the accident will be released as it comes available.

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