U.S.
Mel Evans / AP
A conductor injured in last week's deadly Philadelphia train derailment has sued Amtrak for negligence, his lawyer said on Tuesday, adding to a string of emerging lawsuits since the crash last week.
Emilio Fonseca, 33, was taking a restroom break in the first car during his work shift when the passenger train went off the rails, attorney Bruce Nagel told a news conference, saying the train suddenly surged forward and then crashed. Eight people died and more than 200 others were injured.
Fonseca, who is married and lives in Kearney, New Jersey, suffered a broken neck, back and both shoulders, and was believed to be the most severely injured Amtrak employee, Nagel said. He is among five people who remain in critical condition and is expected to remain hospitalized for several weeks.
Fonseca is the second employee of the passenger rail line to sue over the crash, filing the action in state court in Newark and asking for unspecified damages, his lawyer said.
Other lawsuits have been filed by an Amtrak employee who was riding as a passenger and four other passengers who filed their action in federal court in Philadelphia.
Nearly a week after the derailment, it remains a mystery what caused the train to accelerate from 70 miles per hour to 106 mph in the minute before the crash. Authorities have not yet ruled out equipment malfunction, human error or other possible reasons for the train gaining speed so rapidly.
"There was a sudden surge and then the wreck occurred," Nagel said his client told him.
Crawling through the wreckage to a field, the badly wounded Fonseca immediately began warning injured and stunned riders to avoid stepping on downed electrified wires.
Train engineer Brandon Bostian, 32, who suffered a concussion, told investigators he has no memory of what occurred after the train pulled out of the North Philadelphia station, just before the crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, railroad unions are urging Amtrak to put a second engineer in locomotives in the wake of the deadly derailment.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and SMART Transportation say two engineers would serve as a check and balance on each other. Bostian was alone in the locomotive of Train 188 when it derailed.
Investigators are looking into why the train was going more than double the 50 mph limit around a sharp curve.
Federal authorities said they are uncertain if anything struck the windshield of the Amtrak train before it derailed, but they have not ruled out the possibility.
Investigators, however, said they are certain a gunshot did not strike the train.
FBI agents performed forensic work on a grapefruit-sized fracture on the left side of the Amtrak locomotive's windshield, and the National Transportation Safety Board said they found no evidence of any damage that could have been caused by a firearm.
Amtrak resumed service Monday with a 5:30 a.m. southbound train leaving New York City.
All Acela Express, Northeast Regional and other services also resumed service. Amtrak officials said Sunday that trains along the Northeast Corridor from Washington, D.C., to Boston would return to service in "complete compliance" with federal safety orders.
Wire services
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