Amtrak crash – All eight victims identified

Associated Press is posting developments in the Amtrak train derailment and its aftermath as new details become available:

4:30 p.m.

The Italian government has confirmed that one of its citizens, businessman Giuseppe Piras, also died in the Amtrak crash.

Piras is the last of the eight victims to be identified in the Philadelphia wreck that also injured more than 200.

Italian officials say he was in the United States for work. Italian media report that Piras was from Sardinia and worked in the wine and olive oil business.

The others killed are a Maryland businessman; an Associated Press software engineer; a New York City commercial real estate professional; a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy; a Wells Fargo executive; a college administrator; and the CEO of an educational startup.

4 p.m.

A spokesman for the family of a New York City woman says she was one of the eight people killed in Tuesday's deadly Amtrak wreck in Philadelphia.

The family says 47-year-old Laura Finamore had been coming back to New York from a memorial service for a college friend's mother.

The spokesman says the family got word on Wednesday that the seventh victim fit her description, but dental records were needed to confirm it.

Finamore worked in commercial real estate as a senior account director at Cushman & Wakefield. She is survived by her parents, three brothers, and seven nieces and nephews.

3:15 p.m.

A Maryland man has been identified as one of the eight victims of the Amtrak crash in Philadelphia.

St. Paul, Minnesota-based Ecolab said it was notified Thursday that one of its vice presidents, Bob Gildersleeve, had died in the accident.

Gildersleeve's family had come to Philadelphia on Wednesday to appeal for help in getting more information about whether he had been killed in the crash.

He was identified as one of the victims on the same day authorities said they had found another body in the train wreckage.

Gildersleeve had worked for the food-safety company Ecolab for 22 years and lived near Baltimore.

The company called him an "exceptional leader" who most recently was vice president of corporate accounts for its North American institutional business.

Gildersleeve was married with two children, ages 16 and 13.

Two crash victims have not been publicly identified.

1:00 p.m.

Amtrak's top official says limited Northeast Corridor service will be restored Monday with full service returning by Tuesday.

President and CEO Joseph Boardman spoke Thursday at the site where a train traveling at more than twice the speed limit flew off the tracks, killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

Boardman also said a technology that could have prevented the crash will be installed throughout the Northeast Corridor by the end of the year.

The technology known as positive train control has been installed on much of the corridor but not on the sharp curve in Philadelphia where the train derailed.

Congress had set the end of the year as the deadline for PTC to be installed on all train tracks.

12:35 p.m.

Philadelphia Mayor Michel Nutter says all passengers and crew members have been accounted for two days after the deadly Amtrak crash.

Nutter said at a news conference that an eighth body was found in the wreckage Thursday morning. The mayor says that means all 243 people on board have now been accounted for.

Nutter says city officials will not identify any of the victims. Only six of the eight who died have been identified by authorities or friends and family.

The train flew off the tracks Tuesday night as it was traveling at 106 mph, more than twice the speed limit on that section of track.

12:25 p.m.

A Philadelphia Fire Department official says an eighth body has been found in the wreckage of the Amtrak train that jumped the rails Tuesday night.

Fire Commissioner Derrick Sawyer says a search dog found the body Thursday morning in the mangled first car.

The victim has not been identified; only six of the victims have been identified by authorities or friends and family.

Federal investigators have determined the train was going 106 mph before it derailed Tuesday along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to 50 mph. But they don't know why it was going so fast.

More than 200 people were injured.

12:10 p.m.

An official with the National Transportation Safety Board says two cars remain at the site of a deadly derailment in Philadelphia and that the rest have been taken to a secure location for 3D scans.

NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt said Thursday that the two cars are still being worked on at the site. He says that the engine and five cars have been removed.

He says the scan takes precise measurements and can help show what happened to the cars in terms of damage.

Federal investigators have determined the train was going 106 mph before it derailed along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to 50 mph. But they don't know why it was going so fast.

At least seven people were killed and more than 200 hurt.

11:30 a.m

The engineer at the helm of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia changed his Facebook profile picture to a black rectangle within hours of the crash.

Friends of Brandon Bostian seemed to know about his role in it before his name publicly surfaced and rallied to his side.

One Facebook friend whose profile identifies him as an Amtrak engineer in California posted "it could have been any one of us and you are not alone."

Bostian's LinkedIn profile says he was an Amtrak conductor for four years before becoming an engineer in 2010.

His lawyer says he suffered a concussion in the crash and does not recall it but that he has fully cooperated with authorities.

10:50 a.m.

The lawyer for the engineer of the Amtrak train that flew off the rails in Philadelphia says his client surrendered his cellphone to authorities.

Lawyer Robert Goggin told ABC News that Brandon Bostian immediately consented to a blood test and voluntarily gave up his cellphone after the crash, which killed at least seven people and injured more than 200.

Goggin says Bostian doesn't remember the crash itself but recalls coming to, looking for his bag, retrieving his cellphone and calling 911. He says the engineer's cellphone was off and stored in his bag before the accident, as required.

Federal investigators have determined the train was going 106 mph before it derailed along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to 50 mph. But they don't know why it was going so fast.

9:10 a.m.

A hospital official says that 16 victims of the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia remain at Temple University Hospital, and all are expected to recover.

Dr. Herbert Cushing, Temple's chief medical officer, said Thursday that eight of the patients remain in critical condition and more surgeries are planned.

Seven people were killed in the crash Tuesday and more than 200 were hurt.

Cushing says the patients at the hospital are between 19 and 80 years old and have severe rib injuries. He says some may remain hospitalized for several days.

He says that all of the patients at the hospital have been identified and their families have been notified.

7:20 a.m.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt, speaking Thursday on "CBS This Morning," took exception to Mayor Michael Nutter's remarks that the engineer at the control of the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia was "reckless and irresponsible."

Sumwalt said Nutter's comments to CNN were "subjective" and "judgmental."

He said investigators are not making any "judgment calls" and hope to interview the engineer "very soon."

Asked about comments by the engineer's attorney that his client cannot remember the crash, Sumwalt said that would not be surprising for somebody who's been through a traumatic event.

7:10 a.m.

The attorney for the engineer who was at the controls when an Amtrak train crashed in Philadelphia says his client has no recollection of a crash that killed at least seven people.

Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday, attorney Robert Goggin says Brandon Bostian remembers attempting to reduce speed as the train entered a curve before he was knocked out and sustained a concussion.

The lawyer says the engineer does not remember deploying the emergency brake. Goggin says Bostian told him the last thing he recalls is coming to, looking for his bag, retrieving his cellphone and calling 911 for help.

Investigators have determined the train was traveling at 106 mph on Tuesday night before it ran off the rails, where the speed limit was 50 mph.

The lawyer says his client's memory could likely return as the head injury subsides.

6:45 a.m.

Cranes and heavy equipment are working to right the overturned cars from an Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia, killing at least seven people.

Investigators have determined the train was traveling at 106 mph Tuesday night before it ran off the rails along a sharp curve where the speed limit drops to just 50 mph.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the engineer applied the emergency brakes moments before the crash but slowed the train to only 102 mph by the time the locomotive's black box stopped recording data.

The engineer refused to give a statement to police.

Thursday, 12:10 a.m.

Officials at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York, confirmed that Derrick Griffith, dean of student affairs and enrollment management, was one of seven people killed in the derailment of the Amtrak train.

The college says the 42-year-old Griffith served Medgar Evers students and the community "with passion" and that he was "a champion for the downtrodden."

It says he formerly was a school principal and in 2003 he founded the City University of New York Preparatory Transitional High School. He also was executive director of Groundwork. Inc., an organization formed to support young people living in high poverty urban communities.

Griffith joined Medgar Evers College in 2011 as assistant provost, the first of a number of roles he would fill at the college.

A month ago, he received a doctorate of philosophy in urban education from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

8:45 p.m.

The family of a New York woman who was head of a Philadelphia educational software startup has confirmed that she was one of seven people killed in the derailment of an Amtrak train.

Rachel Jacobs' family called her death "an unthinkable tragedy" and said in a statement it "cannot imagine life without her."

The 39-year-old mother of two and ApprenNet CEO had been traveling home to New York.

Jacobs previously worked at McGraw-Hill, leading the expansion of the company's career-learning business into China, India and the Middle East. She also worked at Ascend Learning, another education technology firm.

Her family called her "a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend."

8:15 p.m.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says he's frustrated to learn how fast the Amtrak train was going in a 50 mph zone when it derailed, killing seven people.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt says the train was traveling at 106 mph when the engineer hit the brakes Tuesday night.

Nutter says part of the investigative focus has to be on what the engineer was doing.

Gov. Tom Wolf has praised the city's response to the derailment.

7 p.m.

A Wells Fargo senior vice president is one of the seven people killed in Tuesday night's Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

A company spokeswoman confirmed the news Wednesday.

"It is with great sadness that Wells Fargo confirms that Abid Gilani, a valued member of our Commercial Real Estate division, has passed away," she said. "Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this tragedy."

According to his LinkedIn page, Gilani had been with Wells Fargo in New York about a year.

At least two people are still missing. Rachel Jacobs, a married mother of two and CEO for Philadelphia startup ApprenNet, had been traveling home to New York. The family of Bob Gildersleeve, a married father of two and Ecolab employee, were in Philadelphia Wednesday distributing his photo.

5:15 p.m.

A National Transportation Safety Board official says the engineer of an Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia applied the emergency brakes moments before the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said Wednesday that the train was traveling at 106 mph when the engineer hit the brakes Tuesday night.

The derailment took place as the train entered a curve where the speed limit is 50 mph. The speed limit on the track just prior to the curve is 70 mph.

The accident closed the nation's busiest rail corridor between New York and Washington.

The dead included an employee of The Associated Press and a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy.

4:15 p.m.

A doctor says he was surprised to find out that nearly all the Amtrak crash victims treated at his Philadelphia hospital had rib fractures.

Temple University Hospital saw 54 patients from the accident Tuesday night that killed seven people and injured more than 200.

Temple's Dr. Herbert Cushing says he expected to see a lot of head trauma but instead the hospital had just one such case.

He says the rib fractures tell him the passengers "rattled around in the train cars a lot."

Twenty-three patients remained hospitalized Wednesday afternoon at Temple, eight in critical condition. Cushing says he expects those in critical condition "to do just fine."

Six bodies were found at the crash site. Cushing says the seventh victim died shortly after midnight at Temple. He was identified as Associated Press employee Jim Gaines of Plainsboro, New Jersey.

3:20 p.m.

Federal accident investigators say an Amtrak train was going over 100 mph prior to a derailment that killed seven people and injured about 200 others in Philadelphia.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a Twitter message that preliminary data showed the excessive speed, but further calibrations are being conducted.

The derailment took place as the train entered a curve where the speed limit is 50 mph. The speed limit on the track just prior to the curve is 70 mph.

The accident closed the nation's busiest rail corridor between New York and Washington.

The dead included an employee of The Associated Press and a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy.

2:30 p.m.

An analysis by The Associated Press of surveillance video just before the deadly crash of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia indicates it was traveling about 107 miles per hour as it approached a curve where the speed limit was 50 miles per hour.

The video shows the train - which was roughly 662 feet long - passes the camera in just over five seconds. But AP found that the surveillance video plays back slightly slower than in real time.

So, adjusting for the slower playback puts the train's estimated speed at 107 miles per hour. The surveillance camera was located at a site just before the bend in the tracks.

The crash killed seven people and injured more than 200.

1:55 p.m.

Philadelphia police officials say the engineer of the Amtrak train that crashed, killing seven people and injuring more than 200, declined to provide a statement to investigators.

They say the engineer also had an attorney when he left a meeting with investigators. The engineer has not yet been identified.

Investigators are trying to determine why the train slipped off the tracks while rounding a sharp curve Tuesday night northeast of Philadelphia's city center.

Authorities say the locomotive's data recorder has been recovered and that it should yield critical information, including the speed of the train.

The speed limit just before the curve was 70 mph and on the curve it was 50 mph.

City officials are holding another briefing Wednesday afternoon. The National Transportation Safety Board also plans a 5 p.m. briefing.

1:45 p.m.

A 20-year-old U.S. Naval Academy midshipman from New York City is one of the seven people killed in Tuesday's Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus identified the midshipman as Justin Zemser.

The popular student leader and athlete was on leave from the Annapolis, Maryland, institution and heading home to Rockaway Beach, New York.

Zemser and his family were temporarily forced from the community by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

He was elected student government president at Channel View High School and was a two-time letter winner on the school's football team.

He played sprint football, a form of the sport for players under 172 pounds, at the Naval Academy.

1:20 p.m. 

The Federal Railroad Administration says Amtrak inspected tracks in Philadelphia just hours before a deadly derailment and found no defects.

The agency says the speed limit on the track just before the accident site is 70 mph, and 50 mph for the curve near where the train came to a rest.

The New York-bound train derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least seven people and injuring 200 others.

Federal authorities will look at a variety of evidence as they try to pinpoint the cause. A former head of railroad accident investigations at the National Transportation Safety Board, Bob Chipkevich, says they'll focus on the train's event data recorder, video recordings and the condition of the rails, rail ties and train cars.

12:50 p.m.

Another body has been pulled from the wreckage of an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia, increasing the death toll to seven.

Philadelphia Fire Department Executive Chief Clifford Gilliam says the body was found Wednesday as crews combed through the mangled train.

Authorities previously confirmed the deaths of six people. They include an Associated Press employee and a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman.

Rescue crews are searching the mangled wreckage as investigators try to determine why the train hurtled off the tracks.

The train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

12:20 p.m.

An Associated Press video software architect is among the six people killed in the Philadelphia Amtrak train derailment.

Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old father of two, had attended meetings in Washington. He was returning home to Plainsboro, New Jersey, when the train derailed Tuesday night. His death was confirmed by his wife, Jacqueline.

Gaines joined the AP in 1998 and was a key factor in nearly all of the news agency's video initiatives, including a service providing live video to hundreds of clients worldwide.

Gaines won AP's "Geek of the Month" award in May 2012 for his "tireless dedication and contagious passion" to technological innovation.

He was part of a team that won the AP Chairman's Prize in 2006 for developing the agency's Online Video Network.

He is also survived by 16-year-old son Oliver and 11-year-old daughter Anushka.

11:20 a.m.

The U.S. Naval Academy says one of the people killed in the Philadelphia Amtrak crash was a midshipman at the school.

In a statement Wednesday morning, the school said the midshipman was on leave and on the way home when the train derailed Tuesday night, killing at least six people.

The school in Annapolis, Maryland, notified the brigade of midshipman, staff and faculty on Wednesday morning.

The statement says that out of respect for the privacy of the midshipman's family, it is withholding the identity of the midshipman for 24 hours following the notification of next of kin.

Hospitals also have treated more than 200 people injured in the crash.

10:30 a.m.

Philadelphia's mayor says the train equivalent of a black box has been recovered from the wreckage of the crash that killed at least six people.

Officials held a news conference Wednesday morning to give an update on the investigation into the derailment.

Mayor Michael Nutter says the train conductor was injured in Tuesday night's crash and received medical treatment.

Another city official says hospitals have treated more than 200 people from the crash.

Robert Sumwalt with the National Transportation Safety Board says investigators are looking at factors including track signals, the train's operation and the conductor's actions.

The train derailed in the city's Port Richmond section. It was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

9:40 a.m.

A Philadelphia commuter train was hit by a projectile about 20 minutes before an Amtrak train derailed a few miles up the track.

A spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says there's no indication that the incident is related to the derailment.

SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams says they don't know what the projectile was. It broke the engineer's window around 9:25 p.m. Tuesday near SEPTA's North Philadelphia station. No injuries were reported.

Williams says the Trenton-bound commuter train was stopped and the incident was being investigated when the Amtrak derailment happened about 3 1/2 miles away.

Williams says Amtrak dispatches SEPTA's Trenton line and was aware of the incident.

Six people were killed and dozens more were injured in Tuesday night's Amtrak derailment.

8:40 a.m.

A deadly Philadelphia derailment has shut down Amtrak between New York and Philadelphia, making life difficult for travelers.

At Penn Station in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, travelers headed toward Washington were scrambling for alternatives.

Bill Atkins, a 48-year-old attorney, was trying to get home to Tysons Corner, Virginia, after a New York business trip. He didn't learn about the train crash until he woke up Wednesday morning.

He says he's in a daze trying to figure out what to do. He settled on trying to fly home. With no flights available from LaGuardia or Kennedy, he says he might go to the airport in Newark, New Jersey, and "just stand in line."

Six people were killed and dozens more were injured in Tuesday night's derailment.

7:55 a.m.

One of the passengers on the train that derailed Tuesday night in Philadelphia says she was thrown from her seat when the car she was in turned onto its side.

Jillian Jorgensen covers politics for The New York Observer. She is 27 and lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.

She tells The Associated Press that things got "very bumpy" and she flew across the train. She says she eventually landed underneath some seats.

She says she heard people screaming and saw people trapped. She says one man was lying still in the center of the car and his face was covered in blood. She got out via an emergency exit window.

Six people are dead and dozens more injured. The train was headed from Washington to New York City.

7:45 a.m.

Heavy equipment is being brought in at the scene of an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia that killed at least six people.

All seven cars of Northeast Regional Train 188 ended in disarray Tuesday night, sending 144 people to hospitals. Several are in critical condition.

Temple University Hospital's Dr. Herbert Cushing says most of the injured sustained fractures.

The derailment occurred where the tracks curve in the city's Port Richmond section.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators will begin their investigation to determine what caused it.

The train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

7:30 a.m.

A sixth person has died following an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

Temple University Hospital's Dr. Herbert Cushing says a person died there overnight from a chest injury. That's in addition to the five deaths announced by Mayor Michael Nutter on Tuesday night.

The National Transportation Safety Board expects to have full crews at the scene Wednesday morning to try to determine what happened.

The train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

Amtrak has modified Northeast Corridor service. Trains will run between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston. There will be no Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey Transit will honor Amtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton.

6:55 a.m.

One car is mangled, three rail cars are overturned and three others are a twisted mess following an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia that killed at least five people.

All seven cars of Northeast Regional Train 188 ended in disarray Tuesday night, sending 144 people to hospitals. At least six are in critical condition.

The National Transportation Safety Board expects to have full crews at the scene Wednesday morning to try to determine what happened.

The train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

Amtrak has had to modify Northeast Corridor service. Trains will run between Washington and Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston. There will be no Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey Transit will honor Amtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton.

6:15 a.m.

Daylight has revealed the destruction and devastation caused by an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia.

All seven cars of Northeast Regional Train 188 ended in disarray Tuesday night, killing at least five people and sending 144 people to hospitals. At least six are in critical condition.

It's not known what caused the cars to leave the tracks. National Transportation Safety Board investigators are headed to the scene.

The train was carrying 238 passengers and five crew members as it headed from Washington to New York City along the nation's busiest rail corridor.

An Associated Press manager, Paul Cheung, was on the train and said "the train started to decelerate, like someone had slammed the brake."

Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy was on the train and said he helped people.

5:45 a.m.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators are headed to the scene of an Amtrak accident in Philadelphia that killed at least five people and injured dozens of others.

Northeast Regional Train 188 was headed to New York from Washington when it derailed in the city's Port Richmond section shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday.

More than 140 people went to hospitals to be evaluated or treated, and six were critically injured.

The derailment has closed a major section of the nation's busiest rail corridor. It is having an impact on commuter rails.

Mayor Michael Nutter called the scene "an absolute disastrous mess."

The mayor says all seven train cars, including the engine, were in "various stages of disarray."

He said there were cars that were "completely overturned, on their side, ripped apart."

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