The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has more than a dozen investigators on the scene of a fatal train crash and derailment that took place on Monday, June 27, in Chariton County.

As of now, four persons have been confirmed to have died in the incident that happened at 12:43 p.m. near Mendon, where an Amtrak train struck a dump truck that was on the tracks. Three of the fatalities were passengers on the train that was headed from Los Angeles to Chicago.

During a press conference, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy explained there are 16 total investigators on the ground gathering information about what happened.

Homendy did not give the specific number of injured persons, but said they were transported to 10 different hospitals in the area, and they will be interviewing them, as well.

Homendy says the railroad crossing where the incident took place is a passive-grade crossing.

Homendy says the NTSB has made recommendations to upgrade crossings such as these for years.

Homendy noted that to upgrade this specific crossing to an active crossing will cost an estimated $400,000.

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Photo courtesy NTSB