In Missouri, three people were killed and several others were injured Monday when a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago collided with a dump truck and derailed in rural Missouri. officials reported. Two of the people who died were on the train and one was in the truck, said Justin Dunn, a spokesman for the Missouri Highway Patrol. The number of people injured was not immediately clear. Several hospitals indicated they had received patients and expected more to arrive.

The Southwest Chief was carrying about 243 passengers and 12 crew members when the collision occurred near Mendon, Amtrak said. The Highway Patrol said seven cars derailed. The crash occurred at an intersection with a gravel road with no rail crossing safety barriers, Dunn said. A 911 call about the collision was received at 12:43 pm and the first emergency crews arrived at the scene 20 minutes later, he added.

A video taken from a helicopter and broadcast by KMBC-TV in Kansas City showed the cars from the side as emergency crews used ladders to climb into one of them. The video also showed six medical helicopters on the ground nearby waiting to transport patients. Nearly 20 different state and local police, ambulance, fire, and hospital medical services agencies responded to the crash. Among the passengers on the train were students from Pleasant Ridge High School in Easton, Kansas, who were on their way to a Future Business Leaders of America conference in Chicago, Superintendent Tim Beying told The Kansas City Star.

The Southwest Chief takes about two days to travel from Los Angeles to Chicago. Mendon, with a population of about 160, is about 84 miles (135 kilometers) northeast of Kansas City.