at this hour exact details, they're still murky for a few reasons which we'll get into in a moment. it is a level three mass casualty event. five people are dead. that was confirm by mayor michael nutter and six are in critical condition with 53 in noncritical condition. 243 people on board. five of whom were amtrak employees. parts of amtrak regional 188 are on their sides. the video is quite starting when you look at it. one is upside down. one nearly split in half with large sections of track just mangled underneath.

the train was traveling north from washington, d.c. the ntsb has been activated and is investigating. now here's what we're still trying to figure out. there is a lot of questions right now. officials are not speculating on what could have caused the derailment. when it all happened at 9:20 p.m. eastern time it was very dark outside. no natural light and very few lights on the track. now rescuers were initially just using flashlights. can you imagine this kind of derailment? they're using flashlights to try to find people and rescue them before asking helicopters overhead to shine their lights just to brighten things up enough to search the area effectively. i understand on the phone we may be able to get a little more from someone on the scene. we have msnbc's adam reiss on the phone with us. adam, can you tell me what you're seeing right now?

all right. i understand we don't have adam as of this moment. we are still trying to get him. as you can imagine, this is a very fluid situation. looking at the video shot earlier, you can see them using flashlights. trying to get inside some of these train cars. and get to people who were trapped inside and we know that because we've spoken to witnesses throughout the evening who have said that there was debris, people that were thrown inside that car, sharp objects. they even had to use rescue crews to use hydraulics to get people out. this happened along very heavily traveled area in the northeast corridor. it happened around 9:20 p.m. eastern time this evening. train 188, amtrak train 188 was traveling from washington, d.c. to new york. hit just left philadelphia when it crashed around 9:20. and eight of the ten cars, eight

to ten cars, i understand, have derailed. i understand we have someone on the line with us right now. who is it? max is an emory university freshman who was on the train. max, give us an indication of exactly what you experienced when this happened. >> basically, everything was going fine. for two seconds, the car started to shake and all of a sudden, everyone was, flew up on to the side of the train and everyone was just so confused, what happened. the car started to smoke and we thought we'd better get out of there before it explodes. so we tried getting everyone off the train. >> did you have any indication, was there any kind of prior warning or was this something that happened all of a sudden? >> it all happened at once. the car started shaking for two seconds.

then we were on our side. >> do you know which car in particular you were in? were you closer to the front or the back? >> i was in the last car. >> you were in the last car. >> and i understand your mother was on the train with you and she was injured? is that correct? >> yeah. my mother, actually we're both innocent e.r. right now at episcopal hospital. she flew up against the window and a suitcase fell on her. and i think she might have some fractured wrists. >> goodness. what happened when this train crash, and you saw these injuries, how were you able to get out? >> well, first thing i did was i helped my mom up and i looked around. i was there and i was walking and i wasn't in too much pain so obviously we saw the smoke coming and we thought we had to get out of here. there was a door that was slightly open and we just

squeezed people through there. and i tried my best to help people get out. because there were people in much worse condition than i was. >> what kind of condition were they in? >> my mother was having trouble breathing because of her ribs. there were people that had suitcases and chairs thrown on top of them and their faces were bleeding. people with broken arms, broken legs, just everything you can imagine. >> and what is so starting about this is these are the injuries from the last train car. i can only begin to imagine what some of those closer to where the trains went off the track experienced. as you're in the hospital right now, first of all, what is your injury? do you have any injuries? >> i hit my head pretty hard. so possibly a concussion. but just a couple scratches. i really got away lucky.

>> were you able to see and talk to some of the other passengers who were injured? maybe a little closer to where the train derailed? >> i did see some people. and they're pretty badly knocked up. their faces were bleeding. they were having trouble walking. and yeah. it was pretty awful. >> was it chaotic? or were people calmly trying to get a sense of what had just happened and get out of there? >> i think most people were just in shock and couldn't believe what had just happened. i mean, here i am a couple hours later and i still, i'm having trouble believing that just happened. but there were people who were freaking out and people thinking, wow, this could be the end. but i think everyone was pretty

much just in shock. >> so once you got out of the train, was there anyone there to escort you somewhere? this was early on, obviously. >> police. police were there and they helped us out and helped us get away. there were wires everywhere. they wanted to get us away from the scene. get us the medical attention that we needed. >> how coordinated was it? were they able to escort you to an area where they kept people, they're calling the walking wounded to make it off the train and away from it? >> yeah. they got us away from it. they put us on a bus. took us away somewhere. and people who needed immediate medical attention got that. and they were transported to hospitals. but for people like myself, my mother, they took us to a separate place. we talked to investigators and now we're at episcopal e.r. >> max, we appreciate you taking

some time out of what has been quite an ordeal to speak with us this evening. we wish you the best with your injuries, your mother's injuries and everyone on that train, obviously. thank you so much. and do take care. >> all right. thanks for having me. >> all right. we're still getting more information about this train derailment. it is a very fluid situation. we do have quite a bit that we learned a little bit earlier from philadelphia mayor michael nutter. here is a little bit of the press conference that he held a little bit earlier this evening. >> we'll tell you what we have. obviously, late this afternoon -- early this evening, rather, amtrak train number 188 which originated from washington, d.c., northbound to new york city, derailed. the officer will give you the exact time but somewhere after 9:00 p.m. this evening. that incident required a four alarm response from the fire department.

the fire department is in command at the scene. that resulted in 33 apparatus on the scene. 120 firefighters and other emergency management personnel responded. this went to a level three mass casualty incident because of the number of personnel. 243 individuals on this train. five of whom are amtrak employees. unfortunately, we can confirm at least five individuals deceased. this is a preliminary estimate. the trains, seven cars including the engine are in various stages of disarray, turned over, upside down, on their side. we are still investigating what is going on. a total of 200 police personnel responded to this incident as well. most individuals were able to walk off of the train. many were transported. you'll get that from the fire department. ntsb, the national agency, is

activated and investigating. amtrak personnel, as you can see the gentleman standing next to me, on the scene as well. full response, fire, police, department of homeland security, amtrak, and other, and the state police. i've talked to governor wolf and his chief of staff. they are very concerned about this incident and giving their full cooperation. i've been on the tracks on the scene with my staff. >> i'm going to interrupt because we want to take to you a new press conference. let's take a listen. we're watching right now. we're watching philly mayor michael nutter at the microphones. >> okay. there's not a ton -- virtually no new information, quite frankly but let's recap. this is amtrak train 188 from

washington, d.c., bound for new york city. approximately 928, the first alarm went out. this went to four fire alarms, fire department is in command on the scene. that's 33 apparatus, 120 firefighting personnel, and ems. at this time, probably 200 police officers. the department of homeland security as well as first responders, state police on the scene, septa personnel on the scene. our best estimate, again preliminary information, everything we tell you will be preliminary information. we believe approximately 243 personnel on the train. five of whom are amtrak employees. 65 is one new piece of information.

65 trans ports. still six considered critical. and unfortunately, confirmed, five individuals deceased as a result. all those individuals went to a variety of hospitals. primarily temple and area and a couple others. we've received tremendous support from all of our agencies and departments and obviously, now i'll introduce governor tom wolf is with us. i've talked with him and his chief of staff. he's expressed tremendous support and we've received that support on the ground. governor? >> thank you.

i am really here in support of the city of philadelphia and the mayor and really just to let him know, anything the state can do, we stand ready to do that. the state police are here to help. if there's anything you know you can count on the commonwealth. >> sam phelps will give some final information. we'll talk about where they are this evening. obviously, we're continuing our operations here and then we'll talk about tomorrow. >> sam? >> good evening. the most important thing right now is that the incident has been placed under control. we're starting the family unification process. we're working with amtrak, with our hospitals, we're working with all of our human services agencies. so again, if the public is looking for someone, a loved one, start that process by calling amtrak's number. 1-800-523-9101. again, 1-800-523-9101. we're working out of the city's

emergency operations center to match all of that information against what we have with hospital records, amtrak, manifest information and again, call that number and we'll start the process. >> hospital person relevant at our emergency operations center which is why that is a central coordinating place. so we're able to match to a great extent the manifest information with hospital personnel and reoc. then when people call, the number of sam phillips gave you, they'll be able to get more information about their loved ones. we would expect since the train had already passed philadelphia's station and was a washington to new york bound train, many of those passengers are probably either washington, d.c. residents, new jersey residents, or new york residents. obviously, some people may have

gotten on the train in philadelphia at 30th street station. given the time of the evening and the usual type of service for this particular train, most were potentially new york bound. i've reached out to both mayor de blasio in new york city. we've been in communication and i also talked to mayor muriel bowser in washington, d.c. both colleagues, folks i've worked with. obviously, mayor bowser much newer than mayor de blasio. the governor plans to do the same with his counter parts at the governor level. in terms of where we are right now, we will continue for some time out here. we will continue but at 1:00 in the morning in darkness, it is a more difficult operation. in the meantime, ntsb as i mentioned earlier has already deployed a team. they are on their way to philadelphia with a full team, with equipment and we've also, working with amtrak, ordered some equipment. again, obviously trying to operate cranes and other heavy equipment in the middle of the night. not the safest thing in the

world to do. so much of that operation will take place in the morning. in terms of any further updates, we would anticipate for the moment that we will provide an update somewhere in the 11:00 a.m. time frame. there will be no other updates tonight. we have no other information. and you all will do what you do but there's nothing else for to us report or to give you and nothing else really to see. we're anticipating probably an 11:00 a.m. update based on any other information that we accumulate overnight. any questions that you have, again, you know this is preliminary and some things i may not be able to answer. >> is everyone accounted for? >> i cannot say that everyone is accounted for at this time. we're still matching up manifest information with transports and all of that. that is a time sensitive and tedious process that we have to go through and i'm not in a

position to make that kind of declaration at the moment. >> mr. mayor, the wreckage is particularly devastating. i think you said that earlier. it looks like tin cans. is it on a bend? have you been talking about the possibility that it was clearly going too fast? you wouldn't have cars that damaged, the front car that far away from the other cars -- >> out of everything you said, the only thing i can tell you is the one known fact. there is a curve. we have no idea what kind of speed we're talking about. what else happened out there. and i'm not going to speculate on it. so there is in fact somewhat of a curve at a particular location. that's the only thing i can confirm at this point. >> is the curve right here? >> yes. somewhat behind us, yes. somewhat of a long curve. >> this is going to take a lot of patience from commuters over the next few days. it sounds like the line will be shut down possibly the rest of

the week, that kind of thing. what do you know about -- >> i'm not going to -- the amtrak personnel are here. there's no circumstances chund there would be any service through philadelphia on this amtrak line for the rest of the week. i'm not an engineer but common sense says, you've got cars, you've got track, i mean, it is completely wiped out. down there. last question. >> can you describe the devastation you saw? >> i just got here. i have not seen the devastation. i'm relying on the mayor's description. it sounds horrible. >> based on what you've heard? >> it sounds horrible. the human tragedy, the devastation, i can't imagine. >> governor, as far as the state's response in helping philadelphia. your comments on that? >> as i am, we stand toward help in whatever way the we can. >> the state has been tremendous. that's all we have. we'll see you tomorrow.

thank you. >> all right. you have been listening to philly mayor michael nut they are bringing it's an update on the latest information that they can provide. not a whole lot of new information. the one good thing that we have learned, and that is so far, the number killed has remained the same. there are five dead in this train derailment. six in critical condition. he did update the number of people taken to the hospital. before they said it was 53. that has been risen to 65. so a total of 65 people have been taken to the hospital. all right. i understand we have former congressman patrick murphy with me on the phone right now. and he in fact was on the train at the time of the accident. former congressman, give us an idea of what you saw, what you experienced.

take us back to that moment. >> yeah. it happened so fast. we were going northbound from d.c. to new york. i was in what's called the cafe car. there are two cars called cafe cars. there's bench seating and i was on the western side of the train going north. and senator tom harper was on my left in the other bench seat. and he had just gotten off at the stop at 30th in philadelphia. some people got on, some got off. the next stop was the trenton stop which is my stop. and next thing you know, we were going about 60, 70 miles an hour, i would say, and it seemed like a regular ride. but next thing you know, it just violently shook. first to the left and then violently to the right where we just totally went over. everyone on my side on the left side of the train basically flew

through the air and landed on the other side. so we got out. he got out at an earlier stop. >> let me ask you something you just mentioned. you say you think you were going 57 miles per hour? is that correct? >> i was not keeping track. i was doing some work. next thing i know, we're in a train crash. it happened so very fast. >> that gives us some kind of indication. we've been trying to figure out all night long how fast this train may have been going and we saw the mayor there in the press conference talk about there being a curve in that particular area of track. he said he had no idea of the speed. we spoke with someone a little bit earlier who said maybe around 30 that miles per hour. and you're speculating 57. of course, none of this is official but it gives us an idea of possibly how fast this train was going. but obviously the devastation is clear. where are you now?

and how are you doing? >> i'm okay. i have a bit of a headache and i'm banged up. but i know i'm one of the lucky ones. there were a lot of people. >> are you at the hospital? are you at home? where are you? >> no. the police department just dropped me off and i just got back in my car and plugged my phone in. and then your producer called me. i was driving home. on my way to see the kids. let them know i'm okay. >> i imagine it is pretty surreal in your mind that you've just been involved in a train derailment. >> yeah. it's not how i expected to end my day. you know, i guess god was looking down on me. obviously, i was one of the lucky ones. my heart goes out to the five or six who were killed. and it breaks my heart. >> absolutely. they're saying five killed. hopefully that number doesn't go

up. six still in critical condition at the local hospitals. have you been told, do you know what some of the passengers, the walking wounded, those who were able to walk away unscathed? what is being done for them? are they in hotels? have they been put on transportation? do you know what's being provided at all? >> yeah. there are four hospitals that are, for the dozens and dozen that's were wounded. they're at einstein hospital, the local regional hospitals there. getting seen. and i tell you, within minutes, we got some people who are flipping out as soon as it happened, to get out. helped punch a window out, the emergency window exit. and then helped them out of what seemed like the roof. it was the other side of the car.

and then, the cars, most of them were not able to exit. and needed medical attention. so we just put pressure on their wounds and, to stop the bleeding so they wouldn't bleed out. and then when the first responders came, literally it felt like within minutes, eight, nine minutes. the fire captain was climbing through the window and i climbed over the middle of the cafe can tina to check on the other side of the cafe car. and there were two people over there that were really badly wounded. one couldn't move. and was in serious pain. so i don't know who those two people were. we had reinforcements come in. the police officers were climbing through and helping get people out.

>> amazing work by the emergency personnel on the scene but also the passengers on that plane. they really pulled together. telling your story that we heard of other stories throughout the evening of people, punching out windows and trying to get through doors and cracking them open so people can get off that train. have you heard anything about what may have possibly caused this? we obviously haven't heard anything from officials. i don't know if being on the ground there, if you've heard anything from anyone. >> yeah. again from the authorities that i spoke to, they thought that the train was slowed down to 50 miles an hour. but, i thought the train, i'm guestimating, facing southbound. it felt like it was going 60 or 70 miles an hour but i can't, i'm not an expert. you know, something like that had never happened to me before. you know, i've seen a lot of things in my life and iraq, my heart goes out to those civilians that were killed and

the dozens and dozens that were injured. >> absolutely. quickly let me ask you this. we haven't heard much from amtrak officials during the press conferences. have you as a passenger gotten any text messages, e-mail, phone calls, any kind of information from amtrak as a passenger as to what to do next? >> i have 27 voicemails on my phone. i just plugged it back in. so one could be from amtrak and i have 38 text messages. so my priority was to talk to my wife and let her know that i was at the scene for an hour afterwards, doing what i could. that i was eventually going to be home and i would eventually be okay and i just wanted to come home. >> i can imagine. that all right. patrick murphy on that train that derailed tonight. thank you for sharing your story, what you experienced. we're glad you're okay and

hopefully you can get home and try to get some kind of rest tonight. we do appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> all right. again, we understand five people have been killed in this amtrak train derailment near philadelphia. six people in critical condition. there are emergency crews still on the scene at this hour. we of course will continue to follow it right here on msnbc. stay tuned for more breaking news.

they say after seeing a magician make his assistant disappear mr.clean came up with a product that makes dirt virtually disappear. he called it the magic eraser. it cleans like magic. even baked on dirt disappears right before your eyes. mr.clean's magic eraser. you still see emergency crews with their flashlights on the scene there trying to determine whether there is anyone elts that needs to be rescued. we have seen ladders going up extending toward the wnld owes

where passengers had to crawl out the get out of the train. to get to safety. >> we saw. so of that a couple of hours ago. so many rescue personnel on top of those trains with ladders. people on stretchers being taken down. others being carried. in the arms of personnel and possibly in the arms of other passengers on that train. you're at some of the video now of people being wheeled away. we pray for the best for them. >> that's a quick look at the earlier coverage by wcau. one of the local stations there. obviously this is a situation that is still underway at this hour. we learned a little bit earlier that in fact because this is a wooded area there is very little light. i want to go now msnbc's adam reiss who joins me on the phone.

so far we've been told five people have been killed. six are in critical condition. and there is a call that went out just because of it being so dark in that area for helicopters in the area whether that be news copters or what. to shine a light on this scene. >> reporter: they have brought in lights police and fire lights. the scene is lit up now. yes, earlier in the evening, it was a complete scene of darkness. with hundreds of rescuers, firefighters, police officers, using their own flashlights searching the scene. the mayor just spoke to us. and he said he cannot be sure at this time that everyone is o some searching through the night. i can tell you i was on the scene an hour ago. just as it was described by the

mayor and the governor, a devastating mangled mess. that's what it is. one of the train cars. it looks like a tin can was open. the front car. the engine car is at least 50 yards away from the other car. they're all turned over. all on the side of the tracks. complete mangled wreckage. we're kind of lucky that there were not more casualties. five deaths, six criticaler 65 were transported. the governor said they will do the best to work through night. it is dark. they have add light to the scene and there are still dozens of rescue workers on the scene, looking through the wreckage. trying to determine what happened. the ntsb, the fbi, from various investigations are on the way already. they'll be looking to find out

the speed. were the brakes applied. this is a curve in the tracks right here and they'll try to see if the train was going too fast. that might be why. >> that will be a key piece of information as they do this investigation. adam, i'm going to ask you to stand by. we want to go to local coverage. wcau is talking to a doctor on the scene. let's take a listen. >> everyone gets seen. >> you were saying you're seeing broken bones, lacerations, is it that traumatic bumping around that you're seeing? >> the first few cars, that was huge trauma. so significant abdominal injuries, internal bleeding. other injuries, a lot of mess chloe skeletal. concussions, cuts and bruises. people will be more sore tomorrow. some people, just a lot of disbelief like they couldn't believe what happened. >> what are some of the stories that some of the patients who are making walking wounded have

been able to tell you after impact? >> the most common thing they said is they just, a loud noise. and some of them, four or five, i don't remember. they said i don't remember what happened from the loud noise. i was on my side or i was pushed against somebody. and then i remember ems or the conductors or others asking for help. they don't remember much screaming or anything. they just remember people getting up and trying to get out. >> and finally, you say you do have at least a couple patients seriously injured that you'll be monitoring into the night. >> it is the emergency medicine positions that are there, our trauma physician. they're all coming in. they're all staying with the patients until they know they're stable and taken care of. there's extra staff at our campuses involved. and they're all seeing it through. >> doctor, thank you for your time. i know you're seeing it through. 25 patients taken to frankford hospital, about a ten-minute ambulance ride from the scene of the derailment. we've been seeing people coming in in police wagons. >> already. wcau reporting there.

a doctor speaking from frankford hospital. in total, 65 people have been taken to area hospitals. six in critical condition. and of course, that number five, people have been killed. hopefully that number does not rise. operations are still underway right now and emergency crews are still on the scene. i want to go back to adam reiss who is nearby that scene for us. adam, i've been on one of these trains going from new york to philly and i don't remember there being any seatbelts on the train. obviously without a seatbelt, you're going to have people being thrown across the train. you're going to have all kinds of injuries upon impact, correct? >> reporter: absolutely several passengers speaking on camera and also tweeting after the crash, the scene after the crash was just chaotic with luggage and people being thrown about

those cars. one person scribbled it. he felt someone had slammed on the brake when they went off the tracks. another woman who was a nurse described getting slammed with a piece of luggage in her chest. and how much it hurt. she is a nurse so she felt that she was seriously injured. so yes. i've been on that train as well. i don't remember seatbelts being on the train. i can't be sure. and also, this was a club car, a business car and a quiet car. so it is quite possible when you're in the club car ordering a drink or some snacks, there are people in that car that are actually standing up. so that is the situation where they could have been severely injured as they were standing up when this accident occurred. >> that is a very good point. and we've been looking at pictures all night.

some photos from passengers that posted shortly after the derailment of people just coming together. trying to get each other off this train after the derailment. what kind of stories have you heard about people basically doing the best they can to save their lives after this accident? >> reporter: well, the fire rescuers said the good news is most people were able to self-evacuate while some of the others, they had to use hydraulics to actually rescue them and get them out. so there were scenes of people helping others get out of the train as we've seen in previous train crashes. the recent one in valhalla in new york, there were one last sunday, new york to new orleans. so yes. they were helping each get out. there were lots of injuries. these people were staggering up as they exited the train. but most people, according to the officials here, were able to self-evacuate. so that was helpful for them. they could focus on the

casualties, the injuries, and people did pass away. >> absolutely. we're looking at some video that was shot earlier. one of the cars, it is so shocking to see it. it looks like it is bent in half will you see rescue crews using flashlights to try to get these passengers off the train. are you hearing any kind of indication whatsoever as to what may have caused this? we heard earlier from the mayor saying, there was a curve in this particular area of track. but he had no idea of the speed of the train. >> reporter: there is a curve right here and we don't want to speculate. based on what we're seeing here with this kind of a wreckage, some inspectors and officials from the ntsb, they're going to certainly be looking into the speed. if it was going at a normal speed around the curve, i don't think, again, we don't want to speculate. i don't think you would see this kind of wreckage strewn across

this large a land mass if it was going at the speed that was suggested for this curve. >> not only that. i saw a little earlier where the actual track was bent. i mean that's a lot of force to bend a train track. i'm no expert but i would assume that takes quite a bit of force. >> reporter: absolutely. to reiterate what i saw when i went to the scene. that one car that you were describing earlier looking like a tin can. the other cars, upside down. one perpendicular to the track, and then the engine car, a good, at least 50 yards away. no way to describe how it is that far away, other than it just separated from the other cars when it derailed. >> yeah. it is hard to piece together exactly how these train cars got in the position they are. and what caused that. you mentioned a little bit earlier that they had brought in flood lights and lighting to help. as rescue crews and emergency

personnel are on the scene. how close are you to that scene? can you tell us what they're doing right now? >> i'm less than a block. and the mayor and the governor just returned from looking at the scene. the governor has not seen the scene yet. the mayor just took him over there to brief him and show him the scene. and i can tell you that search dogs have entered the scene as well. just about five minutes ago, as the mayor had told us earlier. they can't be sure everyone has been accounted for. so they will continue to search through the evening. >> absolutely. and we understand we won't hear another update until possibly 11:00 a.m. this morning. okay. adam, i'm going to ask you to stand by. we want to go on the phone to sally brownstein. an msnbc reporter on the train. and i understand you were on one of the train cars that was near where these six cars were able to derail somehow off the tracks.

>> reporter: hi, betty, yeah. i was on the train that left the, the amtrak train northbound that left washington, d.c. around 9:00. so we were on our train when news reports started coming in about this other train derailment outside philadelphia. we didn't hear any updates from the couldn't ductor until we were stopped in wilmington. at that point we were told that the train service would terminate at the 30th street station in philadelphia. we were given the opportunity to get off in wilmington or we could continue on to 30th street station in philadelphia. that's where the rest of the passengers got off the train. it was a pretty hectic scene here a couple hours ago when we first got off the train. it was already 11:15 at that point. there weren't that. amtrak workers working so they

were trying to deal with a lot of people trying to figure out how they would get home or to their destination. many people still trying to get back to new york city presumably, like myself. and we were told from amtrak workers on microphones that they would be, amtrak was focusing on the crash right now. which you know, as they should be. but that there would be no hotel accommodations no, buses. that people could call customer service starting tomorrow about refunds. but that they would not be able to accommodate anyone further tonight. >> are you serious? so you are basically stranded and amtrak has said they are not going to accommodate the passengers that simply had to get off and now have no idea

where they're going to stay possibly and how they're going to get to their destination. >> reporter: things are much calmer now. there are definitely other bus options in philadelphia. it seems like a lot of people tried to walk across the street to some of the local mega bus and bolt bus stops. there were announcements earlier about new jersey transit lines still running. but those were not through, those were not amtrak trains. i'm waiting here for a car to pick me up to take me back to new york. another train actually just got in. and i asked a few people where they were coming from. they also originated in washington, d.c. it is a much calmer scene now. they are talking to what looks like security, amtrak security officers or local police. i'm a little far away as far as i can tell. it is a much calmer scene now but it was pretty hectic when we first got here. there was a lot of confusion about where people should go and what people should do.

>> i can imagine. especially hearing about the derailment. hopefully you can get back to where you need to be as soon as possible. >> thank you. we're going to continue to follow this scene in philadelphia. five people have been killed. six in critical condition. 65 people total taken to the hospital. stay tuned to msnbc as we continue with our breaking news coverage.

>> go, go, go! that was video taken by nbc producer janelle richards who was on that train in the moments after the derailment.

people were trying to get off as fast as possible. emergency crews are on the scene, actually using flashlights. this derailment happened in a wooded area. five people have been killed in this. six still in critical condition. philadelphia mayor michael nutter and governor tom wolf spoke a short time ago. let's let you listen to that right now. >> there's not a ton, virtually no new information, quite frankly but let's recap. this was amtrak train number 188. from washington, d.c., bound for new york city. approximately 9:28. the first alarm went out. this went to four fire alarms. the fire department on the scene. 33 apparatus, 120 firefighting

personnel and ems. at its height, probably 200 police officers. the department of homeland security on the scene as well as first responders. state police on the scene, septa personnel on the scene and amtrak personnel on the scene. our best estimate continues to be preliminary information. everything we tell you will be preliminary information. we believe approximately 243 personnel on the train. five of whom are amtrak employees. 65 trans ports. five individuals deceased as a result. all those individuals went to a variety of hospitals. primarily temple and aria and a couple others. we received tremendous support from all of our agencies and departments and obviously, now

i'll introduce governor tom wolf is with us. we've talked on the phone. i talked to him and his chief of staff. he's expressed tremendous support for us. more importantly, we received that support on the ground. governor? >> i really am here in support of the city of philadelphia and the mayor. we stand ready to help. if there's anything, i think you know you can count on the commonwealth. >> absolutely. sam phelps will give some final information. i'll come back and talk about where we are this evening. obviously we're continuing our operations here and then we'll talk about tomorrow. sam? >> good evening.

the most important thing now is that the zpt has been placed under control. we're starting the family unification process. we're working with amtrak, our hospitals, all of our human services agencies. again, if the public is looking for someone, a loved one, start that process by calling amtrak's number. 1-800-523-9101. 1-800-523-9101. we're working out of the city's emergency operations center to match all of that information against what we have with hospital records, amtrak, manifest information and again, call that number and it will start the process. >> hospital personnel are at our emergency this personnel center. that's why that's a central coordinating place. we're able to match the manifest information with hospital personnel and reoc.

then when people call the number that sam phillip gave you, they'll give more information. we would expect since the train had already passed philadelphia's 30th street station and was a washington to new york bound train, many of those passengers are probably either washington, d.c. residents, new jersey residents or new york residents. obviously some people play gotten on the train in philadelphia. 30th street station. given the time of the evening and the usual type of service for this particular train, most were potentially new york bound. i've reached out to both mayor de blasio in new york city. we've been in communication. and i also talked on mayor muriel bowser in washington, d.c. both colleagues that i've worked. with obviously mayor bowser much newer than mayor de blasio. the governor expects to do the same with his counter parts at the governor level. in terms of where we are now, we will continue for some time out

here with any continued search. obviously at 1:00 in the morning in darkness, that is a more difficult situation. in the meantime, ntsb has already deployed a team. they are on the way to philadelphia with a full team. with equipment, and we've also, we're working with amtrak ordered some equipment. operating heavy equipment in the middle of the night, not the safest thing to do. in terms of further updates, we would anticipate for the moment that we will probably provide an update somewhere in the 11:00 a.m. time frame. there will be no other updates. we have no other information. you will do what you do but there's nothing for to us report or to give you and nothing else really to see. we are anticipating 11:00 a.m. update based on any other

information that we accumulate overnight. again, you know this is preliminary and some things i may not be able to answer will. >> is everyone accounted for? >> i cannot say that everyone is accounted for at this time. we're still matching up main fest information with transports and all of that. that's a time sensitive and tedious process that we have to go through and i'm not in a position to make that kind of declaration at the moment. >> mr. mayor, the wreckage is particularly devastating. i think you said that earlier. it looks like tin cans. is it on a bend and have you been talking about the possibility that it was clearly going too fast? you wouldn't have cars that damaged, the front car that far away from the other cars.

>> out of everything up, the only thing i can tell you is the one obvious thing, the one known fact. there is a curve. we have no idea what kind of speed we're talking about. what else happened out there. and i won't speculate on it. so there is in fact somewhat of a curve. at a particular location. that's the only thing i can confirm at this point. >> is the curve right here? yes. >> the wreckage is here. >> somewhat behind us. yes. >> this is going to take a lot of patience from commuters over the next few days. it sounds like the line will be shut down possibly the rest of the week? what do you know about -- >> i mean, the amtrak person relevant here. there's no circumstance under which there would be any service through philadelphia or this amtrak line for the rest of the week. i'm not an engineer. but common sense says, you have cars, you've got be the track, it is completely wiped out. last question. >> can you describe the devastation you saw in. >> i just got here.

i have not seen the devastation. i'm relying on the mayor's condition. >> based on what you heard, if you can describe in it human terms. >> it sounds horrible. the human tragedy. >> as far as the state's response in helping if i will if i am? >> as i said, we stand toward help in whatever way we can. we're in support of what the city and amtrak are doing. >> the state has been tremendous. that's all we have. we'll see you tomorrow. >> so you've been listening to a press conference held within the last hour from mayor michael nutter in philadelphia. and governor tom wolf by his side. describing it as something hard to believe. a little earlier, mayor michael nutter. it is a disastrous mess. never seen anything like this in my life. you can see why those words came out of his mouth. this is one of the train cars that derailed and it looks like it is actually bent in half as rescue crews have been on the scene throughout the evening trying to get passengers off that train. and into some kind of medical

help. five people have been killed in this train derailment. we understand six are still in critical condition. the scene is still very active as crews are there. it is in a wooded area. a dark area. they've had to bring in lights because earlier, as you look at that video, crews used flashlights to try to get inside that car. several of them in fact. six to seven cars that were off the track. we'll continue to follow this story and bring you breaking news. stay right here with msnbc.

hello, everybody. we continue with breaking coverage of the deadly train derailment north of philadelphia. now we are about five hours into this level-three mass casualty incident, and there is still no way to though for sure if all the vib timms have been recovered. the final number of casualties or even what the cause of this is. at least five people are dead. that was confirmed by mayor michael nutter and six are in critical condition. there have been 65 total people taken to local hospitals. there were 243 people on board. five of them were amtrak employees. parts of the regional 188 train are on its side, some upside down. one, this one