A chartered train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Garret Graves, to a Republican policy retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck in a rural Virginia town earlier today.
No lawmakers or aides were reported injured. One person was killed and another was seriously hurt, The White House says. The fatality appeared to be someone who was on the truck.
Cassidy tweeted from the scene of the accident, sharing photos and confirming that he and his wife, Laura, were both on board at the time of the accident and were OK. He later tweeted that there were three people on the truck and “one is dead.”
Cassidy and several lawmakers—including Reps. Michael Burgess of Texas, Phil Roe of Tennessee, Larry Bucshon of Indiana, Roger Marshall of Kansas, and Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio—who are also doctors got off the train to tend to the injured.
The accident occurred around 11:20 a.m., about 15 miles west of Charlottesville, Amtrak spokeswoman Kimberly Woods says. Some lawmakers on the train reported feeling a “jolt” at the time of the accident. Authorities have not detailed the sequence of events.
By early afternoon, lawmakers had boarded buses to resume their trip to the resort hosting the retreat, an annual event scheduled to last three days and feature speeches from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
