and i tell you one thing i know for sure, i wasn't ready to be president four years ago. so the worst thing wasn't not running. it was if i had run and won and not been ready. it would have been terrible for the country and for my family. >> our thanks to new jersey governor chris christie and of course mary pat christie, his wife. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. turning you over to b withwolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now double the speed limit. a passenger train going more than 100 miles per hour when it derailed. federal investigators are about to hold a briefing. we'll bring it to you live. disastrous mess. philadelphia's mayor says he's never seen anything like it. the crash halts all traffic on a crucial rail corridor with a ripple effect on travel throughout the northeast. unbelievable, north korea's dictator adds to his long list

of victims. his defense chief is reportedly executed by anti-aircraft guns for dozing off in front of kim jong-un. and isis leader killed? iraq's military says the terror group's number two man has died in a coalition air strike. i'll ask the president's deputy national security adviser about that and more. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the"the situation room"." the breaking news, federal investigators now say an amtrak passenger train was apparently going more than 100 miles an hour when it hit a curve rated at half that speed in philadelphia. all seven cars left the tracks. one was almost obliterated. at least seven people are dead. some 200 others were injured. rail traffic is shut down on a crucial transportation corridor. and there are urgent new questions about what went wrong in this crash and about the nation's rail safety. our correspondents analysts and guests are all standing by for full coverage. let's begin with cnn's brian

todd. he's on the scene for us in philadelphia. brian? >> reporter: wolf this commute on the amtrak regional could not have been more routine when in an instant, there was carnage. you see over my right shoulder, there's the tail end, one of the last cars on the train, pitched to a 45-degree angle off the tracks as investigators continue to comb through that. tonight, we're learning more about what caused the accident. and what we are learning actually is that the train according to a source briefed on the investigation could have been traveling at about 100 miles an hour in a 50-mile-an-hour zone. it was approaching a curve at the time of the derailment. as you mentioned all the people injured there and some of them we've spoken to, we just recently interviewed a woman and her son in one of those last cars, they were returning to new jersey.

her son pulled several people out of one of those last cars. they were describing scenes of absolute carnage. we're expecting an ntsb briefing soon. what we're told is that the engineer has given a statement to investigators. that information came from investigators and from philadelphia mayor michael nutter. and we're also told some other people who were involved in the operation of the train have been talking to investigators. what we're not knowing exactly right now is what they've been saying there. and that's what we know at the moment. the ntsb is scheduled to brief at any moment. >> you've got some information -- new information on at least two people who are still unaccounted for, is that right, brian? >> reporter: that's right. we've learned that a man who's an executive of a chemical company in minneapolis is now listed as missing. his family filed a missing persons report with the philadelphia police department. the last we saw of him according to a family member was when his wife dropped him off at the

baltimore train station last night. that was according to family. that was the last time he was seen. we now have more information on the other passenger, rachel jacobs is her name. she was the daughter of a michigan -- former michigan state senator. she is still listed as missing. and now we have again, a little bit more information about what may have caused this accident. >> we have a major event down here. we have people on the track. >> reporter: screeching noises electrical flashes, then pandemonium. investigators now believe amtrak northeast regional train 188 may have been traveling at twice the speed limit when it derailed in a philadelphia neighborhood at 9:30 p.m. on tuesday. >> i was thrown against the girl next to me against the window and people from the other side of the aisle started falling on top of us. >> reporter: searching for answers in the aftermath, today officials recovered the train's data recorder, the so-called

black box. and cnn has learned investigators are seriously considering whether excessive speed could have caused the accident. the amtrak train is believed to have been traveling in excess of 100 miles per hour as it approached a turn where the speed limit was 50. according to a source briefed by investigators. one passenger tells cnn, the train did appear to pick up speed right before the jolt. >> it felt like we sped up a little bit at first as if we were almost going around a curve. >> reporter: ntsb investigators will also study the condition of the track, the train, and, quote, human performance. philadelphia mayor nutter said the train engineer survived and had talked to investigators. >> the engineer was injured. received medical care. was then interviewed by the philadelphia police department. >> reporter: we spoke to two other people who were on the train. a woman named joan and her son,

max. joan was hit by flying luggage. she suffered a concussion and some fractured ribs. her son, max, got her out of the train as this train started to fill with smoke. they fit through just an eight-inch opening in the train that they could find. then max went in and pulled several other passengers out. he says he's no hero. he said that designation is reserved for the first responders. some investigators still on the scene behind me. >> we're standing by for an update from the national transportation safety board. they're now the lead investigatory team on the scene right now. momentarily, we expect to hear from the ntsb. we'll have live coverage of that coming up. you see the microphones there. the reporters are all getting ready to ask questions and await the latest information. officials do confirm that seven deaths did occur in the amtrak derailment. at least 200 passengers are injured with several of them in critical condition. cnn's sunlen serfaty is joining us now and is outside one of the

six hospitals treating survivors of the wreck. what's the latest, sunlen? >> reporter: this is temple university hospital, the hospital closest to the crash site. only about three miles away. so they took in the most patients overnight. 54 patients in all now. and the latest update from this hospital is that half of those patients have been treated and now released. but eight here remaining are in critical condition fighting for their lives right now. i spoke a short time with the medical director of this hospital about the nature that he's seen of these injuries. >> i was surprised that there were as few head injuries as we saw and there were many, many patients that had rib fractures. >> reporter: what does that tell you? >> that there was a high-energy crash. >> reporter: and the doctor tells me that there are likely three major surgeries scheduled for tomorrow here at this hospital. and he expects about half a

dozen to be released tomorrow. we know there were some survivors that were not injured from this accident. nearby, a lot of them gathered at the 30th street train station here in philadelphia where they were greeted by the red cross. the red cross tells me many of those survivors were too scared to get on another train, that they will remain here in philadelphia until the emotions get back to them. >> we'll get back to you. i know you're getting more information. a u.s. naval academy midshipman and an employee of the "associated press" are among the seven people dead in the derailment. searchers still trying to account for missing passengers, including a tech company ceo. let's go back to philadelphia. cnn's kate bolduan is on the scene for us. kate, what else are you picking up? >> reporter: wolf i want to point out if you can see over my shoulder, i want to talk about the seven confirmed dead. but we are waiting for this ntsb press conference right now. as you can see, ntsb officials are walking towards us right now. the press conference cameras, if you will.

it's right over my left shoulder. they'll be walking up to address the media right now, wolf. i think we should take a break and listen in. >> this is a board member from the ntsb leading the investigation. so you're right, let's listen in. we'll get the latest. >> good afternoon. you'll be briefed today by board member robert l. sumwalt. >> good evening. my name is roblt robert sumwalt. ntsb as many of you know, is an independent federal agency. we're charged by congress to investigate transportation accidents, to determine the probable cause and then issue safety recommendations to try and keep these accidents from happening again. before i go any further i would like to offer our sin veer

condolences for the loss of lives and the injuries that people have sustained and our thoughts and prayers are truly with them. ntsb investigators began arriving here in philadelphia between 4:00 and 5:00 this morning. and the majority of the go team was in place here in philadelphia by about 9:30 this morning. upon arrival here on the scene, we coordinated with the local officials, the first responders and then we conducted a pretty thorough walkthrough of the accident site to be able to get an idea of what we're dealing with, sort of the lay of the land. at noon we held an organizational meeting where we established our investigative protocols and parties to the investigation. the investigator in charge is michael flanagan.

mike has over 40 years of railroad experience. and he has more than 15 years of accident investigation experience with the ntsb. he is leading a multi-disciplinary team of accident investigators that will be looking into the track the signals -- and i'm talking about the train control signal system -- the operations of the train the mechanical condition of the train, to include the brake system recorders, survival factors and emergency response. in addition to our investigative team we have experts from the ntsb's office of transportation disaster assistance. they are here to help facilitate the needs of the victims and their families. here's the factual information that we presently have.

last evening amtrak 188, an amtrak northeast regional train departed philadelphia's 30th street station at 9:10 p.m. bound for new york city's penn station station. the train consisted of one locomotive and seven passenger cars. and according to amtrak there were 238 passengers and a crew of five for a total of 243 occupants of the train. at approximately 9:21 p.m., while traveling through a left-hand turn the entire train derailed. just moments before the

derailment, the train was placed into engineer-induced braking. and this means that the engineer applied full emergency -- a full emergency brake application. maximum authorized speed through this curve was 50 miles per hour. when the engineer-induced brake application was applied, the train was traveling at approximately 106 miles per hour hour. three seconds later when the data to the recorders terminated, the train speed was 102 miles per hour. i will indicate that these are preliminary figures of speed subject to further validation. but we're pretty close on that. that's our first look at it. it's a pretty complex thing. you don't just press a button

and it spits out a speed. we have to measure the wheel speed and put that into a formula. but we're pretty confident that the train was traveling pretty close to those speeds within one or two miles per hour. the train had recorders. it had forward-facing video cameras. and it had an event data recorder. both of these recorders are being sent to our laboratory for analysis at washington, d.c. we did get these initial speeds that we just provided you with from an initial download of the event recorder. we've released the track back to amtrak and they will begin rebuilding it very soon. the locomotive and all but two of the train passenger cars are currently being moved to a secure location where a detailed

examination and documentation can occur. throughout the next few days, the investigators will work on scene to thoroughly document the accident site and gather factual information. we will be doing a more detailed documentation of the rail cars and the scene. we plan to interview the train crew and other personnel. we would like to interview passengers of the train. we will be conducting a site distance test. we'll be testing the signal system the train control signals. we'll be testing the braking system and a detailed analysis instead of the cursory analysis that i mentioned earlier of the recorders -- we'll be doing a very detailed download and analysis of those recorders. our mission is to find out not

only what happened but why it happened so that we can prevent it from happening again. that's really what we're here for, to learn from these things to keep them from happening again. i suspect that our investigators will be here in philadelphia on scene for about a week. i want to emphasize that we're not here on scene to determine the cause of the accident while we're on scene. we're not going to speculate. our purpose for being here i like to describe it that we are here to collect perishable evidence, which is that information that will go away with the passage of time. that's what we're here to do to collect that information that will go away with the passage of time. we can do the analysis later. but we have to capture those data very carefully now. i feel like for just arriving on scene this morning i feel like the preliminary information that

we have is robust. but we still have a lot to get. i know that you have a lot of questions. we have a lot of questions. and our commitment to you is that we are, as we are discovering factual information, we will be releasing it. i would be looking for a press conference about this time tomorrow to tell you what we've learned tomorrow. and that's the way it works. our investigators are out in the field doing their jobs during the day. and they report back to me so i can report to you. i would encourage you to follow us on twitter, our twitter handle is @ntsb. as i wrap it up i'd like to thank the first responders for all of their efforts. they've been out here through the nit, through the early morning and all day trying to secure this area. we want to thank them for their hard efforts. now, i will call for questions -- i'm going to call for questions. what i'd like for you to do is raise your hand i will call on

you. and once i call on you, please state your name and your outlet. >> [ inaudible ]. have you had a chance to talk to the engineer [ inaudible ] -- >> have we talked to the engineer? the answer to that is no. but we plan to. this person has gone through a very traumatic event. and we want to give him an opportunity to convalesce for a day or so before we interview him. but that's certainly a high priority for us, to interview the train crew. >> tom costello will nbc news. you talked about the 106 miles per hour being the speed. how long did it take him to get up to 106? in other words, had he been progressively getting faster and faster? do you have a time line for that? and also were there any whistles or bells going off in the cab warning about the speed? >> the question is at what

point did the train reach 106 miles per hour? initial examination of the data we have not gone back that far because it is a very detailed analysis of reading those data. we wanted to find out the speed so we could report those to you. we will be coming up with the time line. that's one of the things we will do. but we don't have those exact figures at this point. any alarms in the cab of the locomotive? we will discover that information. we should through the event recorders. >> chris o'donnell from fox 29. are you confident that all the fatalities have been accounted for? you say most of the rail cars have been removed. there are one or two left. do you know if there are any more fatalities?

>> i don't want to sound bureaucratic. we are here to investigate the accident and that's our lane. the release of the information on the injuries and fatalities, that is the domain of the philadelphia office of emergency management. they would have that information and so that's the answer to that. >> rosemary connors. you mentioned he applied the pull braking system when this accident happened. was that enough to bring this speed under a level [ inaudible ] -- >> the question is the engineer applied the -- put the train into emergency braking a few seconds before, moments before the derailment. and in the next three seconds three or four seconds, the speed of the train had only decreased to 102. it takes a long time and distance to decelerate a train. >> how long would it typically

take to -- after he applied the brakes? >> to get the speed down below the track speed of 50 miles an hour? he was already in the curve at that point. you're supposed to enter the curve at 50 miles an hour. >> [ inaudible ] -- >> the question is, is the black box, the event data recorder is that at amtrak? is that your question? >> yes, at the amtrak -- >> we took it to -- that's the question. we took the event recorder to amtrak's facilities because they have the equipment locally to download it. so we took it there for the preliminary look. but now we're taking it to our own labs in washington, d.c. question right here. >> how many event recorders are

there? >> there's one event recorder. and that's in the locomotive in addition to the event recorder there is a forward-facing camera. >> was the train equipped with any sort of system that could have or should have slowed a train that was going too fast prior to the curve? >> was the train equipped with any type of device that could have or should have slowed it down to keep it within its limits? amtrak throughout a good bit of the northeastern corridor has a system called advanced civil speed enforcement. that's called acse. it's installed throughout most of the northeast corridor for amtrak. however, it is not installed for this area where the accident occurred, where the derailment occurred. that type of a system we call it a positive train control system. that type of system is designed

to enforce the civil speed to keep the train below its maximum speed. and so we have called for positive train control for many, many years. it's on our most wanted list. congress has mandated that it be instauld by the end of this year. so we are very keen on positive train control. based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred. right here? >> [ inaudible ]. >> is this train equipped with a dead-man switch? some trains have it, some don't. often in place of that, they have an alerter. so if there's no activity from the engineer within a certain period of time, an oral and visual alerter will activate in the cab of the locomotive. then if an engineer makes a throttle move under something,

that will deactivate -- >> [ inaudible ] -- >> we want to know exactly what was in that car. >> let me call on you. i'll take a question right here. >> [ inaudible ] -- >> well when was the last time the rail was inspected? before accident and post accident? the rail geometry car went across the track yesterday. and as far as our thorough examination of the track you've got to understand, there's been a lot of activity out there right now. the cars have been piled up out there. so our real thorough examination of the car -- of the track will begin after those cars are thoroughly removed. i expect we'll be out there documenting that tomorrow. question right here? >> were the nearby tanks filled

with fuel? >> there are some rail tank cars very close to the point of derailment. were they empty? i'm told -- i won't affirm or verify this i'm told they were not full at the time of the accident. >> do we know how long this engineer has been with amtrak? >> we do know how long the engineer operated this route and how long had he been with amtrak? that's the type of information -- i don't consider that perishable evidence. that's data that we can get two weeks from now. what we're trying to do right now is get out there and measure everything that won't be here in two weeks. to answer your question, we don't know. i can't tell you right now because i don't know how long he had been there. but that's information we will get. we want to interview him. we want to review his training records, his employment records. that's standard. question right here? >> when did the train start

moving faster than the -- >> the question is when did the train start moving faster than the speed limit? we have not gone back far enough in the data to see when that occurred. the speed limit through the curve is 50 miles an hour. however, right before the curve, the speed limit is 80. so 80-mile-an-hour speed limit and then to enter the curve, the engineer is supposed to slow the train to 50. but we will be putting together a time line. we've got good data from the event recorders. our priority was just to get an idea of what the speed was at the derailment. >> would speed alone have caused this crash? >> could the speed alone have caused this crash? that's analysis. that's exactly what we want to find out why did this train derail? >> in your initial assessment

were there any obvious mechanical signal problems anything on the track that stuck out to you -- >> are there any obvious mechanical or signal difficulties that we found? we have not -- again, we just basically got here. a lot of the emergency response has been going on till about 2:00. so we haven't been able to get that very thorough, up close and personal view of the track. we'll be doing a brake test of the train. there's a lot of work that needs to be done that will be done. and we will be letting you know periodically how we're going. again, look for another press briefing tomorrow. and that's it. i want to thank you for your time. see you tomorrow. >> there he is robert sumwalt

a board member from the ntsb, the national transportation safety board, briefing us on what was going on. the key points he's making though, going into this curve, the train is supposed to be going 50 miles per hour. but it was going went down to 102 miles per hour. way too fast. but that's when the system basically crashed. joining us now is the president of the national safety council, the former chair of the ntsb, debra hursman. thanks for joining us. i assume you heard robert sumwalt explain what was going on. what does this say to you? what's your immediate analysis? >> you know time and time again, we've seen situations where things can be prevented. and i think looking at this situation, hearing the 106-mile-per-hour speed going into a 50-mile-per-hour curve really says to us this is

absolutely preventable. and we need to consider technologies like positive train control. >> what possibly other than human error could result in the train going 106 miles an hour into that curve as opposed to 50 miles per hour? >> well you know, it is really early in the investigation. it's not just about ruling things in. but it's also about ruling things out. they have got to test all of the systems the displays, things like the speedometer, to make sure everything is working as designed so that that locomotive engineer had all of the information and tools to make the right decisions and inputs. >> deborah, i want you to stand by. i also want to bring in peter goelz former mnging director of the ntsb and also is a cnn aviation analyst but he knows a lot about ground transportation, including train disasters as occurred in philadelphia. what's your immediate reaction when you heard robert sumwalt,

and i assume you know robert from your years at the ntsb. what's your reaction to what he said? >> i was shocked as i think deborah was, that this accident occurred because as she mentioned, it has happened before. and there's two things that are going to happen right away. one is they're going to look at the engineer very carefully. they're going to pull his cell phone records to see if he was distracted or on his cell. they're going to look at his activities, the 72 hours beforehand. and they're going to look carefully at his past record. and of course this reiterates another concern. not only positive train control which as we know the ntsb has been pushing for years. today the congress cut an appropriation for positive train control on the very day after this tragedy. and the congress is really going to have to address these kinds

of infrastructure issues. but another interesting point is why only forward-facing cameras? why not a camera facing into the cabin? the ntsb has discussed that as well. but engineer groups have opposed it. we need to know what happened in this event and we need all the tools in the tool chest. >> we don't know what happened inside the -- with the engineer in this particular case. but if there were a camera, the notion that perhaps falling asleep which has happened in other train disasters could be either ruled out or ruled in, right? >> correct. we would know whether he was distracted, whether he was dozing off. we'd know what he was doing. and there is no reason not to have cabin cameras in this day and age. >> just like there should be cabin cameras in the cockpits of aircraft as well. i know you've been a supporter of that over the years. >> that's right.

>> let's talk for a moment about what sumwalt, the ntsb board member mentioned and what you just mentioned, this positive train control. a lot of us aren't familiar with that. but basically from my understanding, if that were in place, the train could not have been going into that curve at 106 miles per hour it would have been automatically going in at 50 miles per hour, which is what it was supposed to do, is that right? >> that's correct. and what's tragic is that there is a form of positive train control on much of the northeast corridor. but in this section -- and it could be because this is an intersection of a number of different rail lines. at this intersection they had not had it in place even though there was a relatively sharp turn. and deborah has been a proponent of positive train control across the country. and she'll be speaking out on it i think continuously after this accident.

>> the reason it wasn't there is, what money? it costs a lot to put it into place, is that it? >> it costs billions. and one of the other challenges is we have multiple rail lines operating. it's not just a single national rail carrier. we have at least six major freight carriers. we have multiple short lines. we have multiple passenger lines. the integration of those systems has proven to be more challenging than first thought. but we cannot stop. and the government needs to help. and the idea that they would cut not just appropriations for amtrak this afternoon but also cut positive train control is really very, very disheartening. >> we're going to have much more on this coming up. the breaking news we're following out of philadelphia, seven people confirmed dead in this horrendous, horrendous train crash. stay with us, peter.

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much more on the deadly philadelphia train crash in just a new moments. but there's other important news that's breaking right now. north korea's dictator has apparently added to his long list of victims by having his defense chief killed. publicly ripped to pieces by a high-caliber weapon. let's get the latest from our global affairs correspondent,

elise labott. what are you learning? >> reporter: purges of top regime officials have become more frequent. but this latest one is seen as a major shake-up. there were few people more entrenched in the kim family inner circle than the defense minister. and kim is sending an unmistakable and clear message with this that no one is safe. one of kim jong-un's top military commanders was executed shot by anti-aircraft guns as hundreds of north korean elites watched. just weeks ago, hyon yong chol was seen here leading a north korean delegation to a security conference in moscow. >> this is a big deal. he was a survivor, someone that one would have thought would remain high up in the regime. >> reporter: he was a kim family loyalist.

south korean lawmakers who attended an intelligence briefing about his death tell cnn he was accused of second-guessing kim's orders, even dozing off during military events. and new satellite images from the committee for human rights in north korea show what appears to be a public execution also by anti-aircraft machine gunfire some time this past october. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of either the images or the execution itself. >> not in a position to confirm any of those specifics. but these disturbing reports, if they are true describe another extremely brutal act by the north korean regime. >> reporter: it's not the first time the young north korean leader eliminated rivals under his rule as he struggles to project power. in 2013 kim killed his own uncle, once a member of his inner circle for treason.

a north korean defector says kim poisoned his aunt for complaining about her husband's execution. south korean intelligence believes kim had 15 top regime officials killed this year alone. charges a north korean official dismissed as quote, malicious slander in an interview with cnn's will ripley. just this weekend kim backed out of vladimir putin's massive military parade to mark the end of world war ii, which russian officials say was for quote, internal reasons. could fear of being next prompt one of kim's inner circle to kill him or stage a coup? kim's firm grip on power makes that difficult but not impossible. >> it's a pretty risky proposition to be in the upper reaches of the regime there. when we see these sorts of high-ranking people bumped off like this, there might be a group who feel that they're better off under a different leadership. >> reporter: and experts say that fear of being assassinated

could have been what kept kim from traveling to russia this weekend. this execution is the latest in a series of personnel shuffles. u.s. officials say that while kim does seem to be in control right now, these actions show this is not a leader confident in his position. he's still trying to establish himself in a very volatile political situation, wolf. >> very important political, serious development in north korea. thank you. let's get more on this and other news that's happening right now. joining us the white house deputy national security adviser to the president, ben rhodes. thanks very much for joining us. first of all, has the u.s. confirmed this execution in such a brutal manner of the north korean defense minister? >> wolf, i wouldn't talk about our intelligence. but i would say we have no reason to doubt this report, which is also in line with past behavior that we've seen from kim jong-un. there has been a pattern of these types of executions of

purges that does speak to a very volatile situation with the new north korean leader. >> do you dispute also this notion that he was killed in this fashion with an anti-aircraft battery going and killing him in front of all these people? >> well, again there have been reports of that technique being used in executions in north korea. obviously it speaks to the truly barbaric nature of this regime. and that's raised concerns not just from the united states but from countries like china that has traditionally been close to north korea. they've been concerned about what they've seen as a pattern of provocations out of the country. that's why you see a consensus in the international community that there has to be a unified front against north korean provocation. >> does it show that kim jong-un is weak or that he's strong? >> well, wolf i don't think you would go through the measures of

executing members of your family, high-ranking members of the regime if you felt confident in your position. generally i think that speaks to someone who's concerned about exerting control. the fact of the matter is, though, there's a pattern of behavior inside the country that includes these types of executions and human rights abuses. there's a pattern of behavior outside the country that includes their nuclear program and their provocations. that's why i think we need to be firmly aligned with our allies in the region like japan and south korea, with countries like china in having a unified front against that type of behavior. >> got a bunch of other issues i want to go through if we can. i know your time is limited. the iraqi military now says a high-value target was killed in iraq. some reports saying it was an isis deputy maybe the number two leader in isis. abu alaa al afri. is that true? >> we can't confirm that at this point. the fact of the matter is

there's been a steady effort to degrade isil inside of iraq and the target leadership. but we want to be able to independently confirm that. >> there's another report that a coalition bomb, i don't know if a u.s. bomb or a coalition warplane, hit a mosque. is that true? >> wolf, the pentagon would have to speak to that. the fact of the matter is we use incredibly precise weapons in our strikes inside of iraq and in syria. we take great care to avoid civilian casualties. and if we do have a civilian casualty incident, we investigate it and we report it. so we'll be very transparent about any of those particular allegations. but, again, the pentagon will speak to specific incidents. >> we know that there's been a u.s. military helicopter helping in the humanitarian mission in nepal that's been missing with six marines, two nepal soldiers on board. have they found that helicopter?

do we know the fate of those marines? >> we don't wolf. the search is still on. we're working very closely with the government in nepal to try to locate the helicopter, determine exactly what happened. this speaks to the extraordinary things that our military does around the world to help bring relief to populations who have suffered gravely in natural disasters. and right now our thoughts and prayers of course are with those who are close to the missing service members and we're going to do everything we can to determine where they are and what happened. >> i know the president is meeting today and tomorrow at camp david with leaders of six sunni arab gulf states. four of those states are being represented by their deputies, not the heads of state. how much of a problem is this? i know you've suggested the right group of people are around the table. but ideally the leaders including the king of saudi arabia, should have been there, right? >> no, i don't think so wolf. you follow the region very

closely. you know, for instance, of course, that the leader from the united arab emirates, always represents the uae as these types of international meetings. the sultan of oman hasn't been traveling in recent years. so it's common these countries are often represented by people at that deputy level. and what we've said as it relates to saudi arabia and the other countries that are there they're sending the right people the people with the security portfolios, the people that we cooperate with on a regular basis, to have a discussion about our security cooperation the situation in the region the counter-isil campaign, iran and the ongoing negotiations on the nuclear issue. we believe the right people are going to be here at the white house tonight for a dinner with the president and out at camp david tomorrow. >> will the president have a formal news conference with the other leaders at the end of that session at camp david tomorrow? >> he'll certainly be appearing throughout the day with the other leaders. he'll have a press conference at

the conclusion of the camp david meetings. we'd expect there to be both a joint statement that could emerge from the discussions as well as, of course the president having his own press conference. >> ben rhodes, deputy national security adviser to the president thanks very much for joining us. >> thanks, wolf. >> good luck with those meetings. we know there's a lot at stake. coming up we'll have much more on the breaking news, the investigation into that deadly amtrak derailment. i'll speak live with someone who survived the horrific crash. i can't find my discover card! wait, i can freeze my account. [touch tone] introducing freeze it, from discover. it allows you to prevent new purchases on your account in seconds if your card is misplaced. not here... ♪ and once you find your card, you can switch it right on again. hey...you're back!

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breaking news the investigation into what caused an amtrak train to derail in philadelphia. the train was going 106 miles an hour before it entered a curve that was supposed to have a 50-mile-an-hour speed limit. it left seven people dead over 200 injured. one survivor, caleb is joining us from philadelphia. thanks for joining us. glad you are okay. take us inside the train at the moment it derailed. what did it feel like inside? >> you know there's been quite a few accounts of what different people have experienced inside this train. it really depends on what your train of thought was before the train derailed. in my situation, it was, i was between closing my eyes relaxing listening to music on my ipod. all of a sudden in the blink of an eye, i went from one side of the train to the other side. it was out of control.

it was very sudden. >> did you think the train was traveling too fast? >> you know that never occurred to me while i was on the train. i was sitting there, minding my own business in my own little world. several accounts i read did have people indicating they felt the train was moving really fast. there was the possibility since it was delayed in washington they were trying to make up time. there are heavy fines imposed on conductors that speed. the likelihood of that was high. i didn't feel it was out of control. the hear the train was traveling at approximately 106 miles per hour on a turn that the speed limit was 50 miles per hour is absolutely jaw dropping, especially from somebody who saw the true damage of the toll the accident took on passengers inside the train. it is very concerning that is

what the findings are starting to come out with. >> when you were thrown around i take it you were injured in the crash, is that right? >> i hit my head really hard. i was thrown around. to the best of my recollection it was quick and went black pretty quick. i went from one side of the train to the other side like that. there was quite a few other people that did so. if i recall correctly, somebody was sitting next to me. in the seat where i ended up there was nobody. i don't know where he went. yeah there were a lot of people injured. there were a lot of people that had, like head injuries and from the reports that i have read briefly today, there wasn't a lot of major head injuries which is a wonderful blessing but, you know we were in the very back car. i'm afraid to ask what the injuries were in cars that were ahead of mine. >> very quickly, were you

conscious the whole time? >> i believe i was. i do recall what happened. i felt like i was in control of myself at all times. i didn't ever feel dizzy. i got a nice little golf ball sized bump up here and bruising elsewhere. besides that i'm blessed to be able to walk away from this accident when many are unable to. my thoughts and prayers go to the family members grieving because they have lost somebody they love. >> well said. thanks for joining us. good luck. appreciate it very much caleb. coming up we are going to have much more on that at the top of the hour.

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happening now, breaking news. excessive speed, officials say. this amtrak train was going more than twice the speed limit before it derailed. investigators are analyzing the so-called black boxes. we'll get the latest from the national transportation safety board. they are in philadelphia.

utter devastation. >> multiple rescues to be made. oh yeah. a lot of patients in an area where the tracks are still hot. >> seven people confirmed dead hundreds injured. some passengers still missing. we have dramatic video of the wreckage. travel nightmare. the country's busiest rail route now closed. travelers in the northeast corridor are scrambling making alternate plans. when will the trains start rolling again? letting it slip. jeb bush inadd ver tantly announces his run for presidency. he's confused on the mixed messages. will the blunders hurt his campaign before it officially begins? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in the situation. we are following breaking

news. disturbing information about the deadly amtrak derailment in philadelphia. the safety board revealed the train from washington d.c. to new york city was going 106 miles an hour. that's more than twice the speed limit just before it flew off the tracks. investigators also say the engineer applied full emergency brakes but they only slowed the train to under two miles an hour before all seven cars derailed. the death toll climbed to at least seven. some passengers are missing. more than 200 are injured. we are standing by for a news conference by the philadelphia mayor and the pennsylvania governor. this hour we'll have live coverage. we are covering all angles of the breaking news with our correspondents and our guests including a national safety board member. cnns renee is in philadelphia. what is the latest you are hearing and seeing there on the

ground? >> well wolf i can tell you, this is still a recovery operation. when that engineer stepped on the brakes this train was already going at 106 miles per hour. that's more than double the speed limit in this area. that is the headline coming from the ntsb. now, a full-blown investigation is under way to figure out why the train was going so dangerously fast. investigators believe the train was traveling over 100 miles per hour as it approached a curve with a 50-mile-per-hour speed limit. several train cars jumped the tracks. >> the train was placed in engineer induced braking. that means they applied full emergency brake application. >> crawl forward, sir. >> reporter: inside the train, passengers made a desperate

attempt to escape from train 188. >> the car was filled with smoke. we were all trying to get out of the car. i remember somebody in the car saying you know stay calm. >> reporter: surveillance video obtained by cnn shows the train moments before the fatal crash. you see it passing by then flashes of light. >> shut down the entire northeast corridor. we have a major event here. it's a mass casualty incident. >> reporter: as the train passed philadelphia and negotiated the turn the train started to shake. the train's black box has been recovered. it will tell investigators how fast the train was traveling. attention now shifts to the engineer who was steering the train. >> this person has gone through a very traumatic event. we want to give him an opportunity to -- to convalesce for a day or so before we interview him.

>> reporter: back at the site the primary focus, hours after the fatal crash, treating those who made it out alive. >> at first, i was like, whoa what just happened kind of thinlg. being glad it stopped. you are alive. >> reporter: now, wolf the focus is now on this engineer who was steering this train. we know he was injured. he did receive medical attention. we heard from the ntsb they have not had the opportunity to interview him, yet. they do want that so that is next. >> they would like to interview the engineer in charge. thanks renee. i want to bring in the mayor of philadelphia michael nutter. i know you have a lot going on right now. thanks for taking some time. first of all, has everyone been accounted for, as far as you know? we heard some of the passengers were still missing. >> well we are going through a

process, wolf where we received the passenger manifest from amtrak. we are comparing that to all the folks we know got off the train, that we treated at hospitals or otherwise accounted for. the challenge here is that we are not exactly sure if everyone who was on that manifest was actually on the train. just because someone bought a ticket doesn't mean they got on the train. secondly some of the folks who we may have transported last night did not necessarily check in to say they are who they are or that they are okay. so we are trying to resolve that kind of situation. that's a person by person analysis. so the search and rescue portion with the philadelphia fire department with the police department assistance continues while at the same time we checked through all the paperwork, all the manifests and documents to see if we can account for everyone and actually know who, specifically were all the people on that

train last night. >> let's find out. i'm sure you will update us. once you know we'll know. the train was traveling, we are told by the ntsb 106 miles per hour going into the curve and shouldn't have been going faster than 50 miles per hour. was this a human error, a mechanical error? what are you hearing? >> i don't know that ntsb made that decision. clearly, it was reckless in terms of driving by the engineer. there's no way in the world he should have been going that fast into the curve. i mean most of the time the regional rail i have been on that train a million times coming out of d.c. the 710 and, you know maybe you are going 100 or so on the straight away. but, no way in the world a regional train should be doing 106 on a curve and one that is rated at 50 miles an hour. clearly, he was reckless and

irresponsible in his actions. i don't know what was going on with him. i don't know what was going on in the cab. there's really no excuse that could be offered. literally, unless he had a heart attack. he went to the hospital we interviewed him and he was released. that doesn't appear to be one of the reasons. so there can be no reasonable rational explanation for why you are doing 106 on a 50-mile-an-hour rated curve. >> somebody said to me i don't know if this is accurate or not, but i'll run it by you and ask you, mayor because you are all over there. you say 7:10. that's the time this regional amtrak is supposed to leave washington station. i'm told yesterday from people on the train it was delayed and left late. there is some speculation maybe the engineer was trying to make up time that's why he was going so fast. have you heard that? >> i have heard that same story. again, i mean -- i mean, you

have to be an id not to -- even if you are trying to make up time to do 106 on a curve as opposed to maybe on a straight away. that is not acceptable. let's be reasonable. people know from time to time a train might leave late. a plane might leave late. you don't do reckless things and endanger passengers by trying to make up time. i'm sure the seven people who lost their lives that we have confirmed, i'm sure they would not have minded being another 20 25 30 minutes late as opposed to dying unnecessarily in a train reck. >> i assume you recovered all the bodies from that train wreck. you have gone through all the area around the cars. there are no other bodies out there, is that right? >> i cannot confirm that wolf only because the actual search and rescue process continues.

we have widened the area about 45 minutes or so. we sent out another 25 philadelphia police officers and supervisors in a widened search area to continue to search. we will not rest or stop. we will maintain focus on trying to get as much information as possible about search and rescue capacity and until we are firmly convinced that we have searched every possible place, we will not end those efforts. >> mayor, as you know there's something called positive train control. that's supposed to be able to make sure a train does not go 100 miles an hour into a 50-mile-an-hour curve. in this particular area in philadelphia it was not in place. we have now heard from the ntsb those in charge of the investigation, peter is a former ntsb manager. they want this. why isn't this in effect right

now in philadelphia? >> well i have to be honest with you, wolf. until earlier today, i never heard that term in my life. the issue at the moment is certainly you want to have as many safety devices on a train or plane or cars or whatever the case may be. i don't know that we are the only place in the entire amtrak system that doesn't have this particular device. i'm going to leave that for the moment to the folks at amtrak and ntsb and federal railway administration to sort through that. obviously, it's something you want to have. today, i'm going to focus on search and recovery reunifying people with their loved ones and making sure we have found all the passengers on that train and, you know i will fully engage in the debate from a public policy and politics standpoint about safety equipment and the life on another day. for today, we are going to

respectfully you know mourn the loss of life and the injury to all those passengers. >> i don't know that this area the philadelphia area isn't the only place that doesn't have this train control. like you, i only heard of it for the first time today as well. obviously, it's something experts have been looking for. they want it and one of the problems is it's expensive. money is you know as a mayor, it's always a problem. >> i understand that. life is priceless. we need to stay focused as greatly as we can on having these kind of safety mechanisms. again, that's a different fight for a different day, dealing with congress and budgets and all those kind of issues. i think there can be no dispute today, certainly anywhere regardless of party, regardless of your level of government these safety features need to be in place. we can't afford to lose

americans to these preventable tragedies. >> mayor, good luck to you. we know you have your hands full. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> let's get more on what's going on. joining us from the national transportation safety board member who is in charge of this investigation. what do you say to what we just heard from mayor nutter that it was reckless to be going that fast around that curve, 106 miles an hour in a 50-mile-an-hour zone? >> i'm going to not make such remarks. we are here to conduct a fact basted nonemotional investigation. to make comments like that is inflammatory inflammatory. we want to find out what happened to prevent it from happening again. >> do you think the mayor was wrong in saying that? >> you are not going to hear the ntsb making comments like that.

we want to get the facts before we start making judgments. >> is there some sort of mechanical problem that could have caused that train to be going that fast into that curve as opposed to a human error? >> wolf we are here looking at everything. we are going to look at the operation of the train, the mechanical condition of the train itself we are going to do a brake check. we are going to find out how the operation of the train was. we are going to look at the human factors, the performance around the engineer. we are going to look at everything the signal system. we want to understand like everybody else does why was this train doing over twice the allowable speed? that's the key question and we intend to find out. >> we know the train had what's called that forward facing camera showing what was ahead of the train and event data recorder, the so-called black box that's been recovered. why aren't there cameras inside

the cabin to see what the engineer is doing, dozed off, fell asleep or whatever? >> we certainly called for cameras in the loco motive cabs. we have called for inward facing cameras. we had to call for that after tragic accidents. so, we have called for that. we are waiting for a regulatory authority to act on that recommendation. >> what's their excuse? >> well i'm going to let you ask them that question. it's not my position to make to apologize for other federal agencies. >> if this area in philadelphia had what we are all learning about today, these positive train control devices, that automatically would have prevented that train from going that fast into the 50-mile-an-hour curve zone right? >> that's exactly right, wolf. i want to point out, train control has been mandated by congress to be implemented on

this type of rail system by the end of this year. >> why wasn't it in place in philadelphia? >> that's going to be a key question. we want to find out why was it in other areas on amtrak's northeast corridor but not here? that's a key question. we intend to find out. >> is it just philadelphia or other places in the northeast that doesn't have this? >> well you are asking great questions. we just got hered to. our investigation is just beginning. while we are here we are collecting the parrishable evidence. that's the sort of information we can find out down the road. we certainly want to find out what percentage of the northeast corridor has this system, they call it asis that's their name for positive train control. we want to find out what percentage of it doesn't have it. congressman dated this system be

installed for passenger rail by the end of this year. >> is it a matter of money? is that the problem here? i know it's pretty expensive. >> well it is expensive, but, there's some technological issue that is need to be solved. the system is mature and ready to be installed. most railroads are moving forward with it. most freight railroads say they are not going to be able to make that deadline. it's something the ntsb called for for a long long time. it's been on the most wanted list for a long time. we feel it needs to be implemented. it will prevent the very type of accident we are talking about here. a year and a half ago, up in bronx, up in the bronx, there was an accident where a commuter rail went around a curve too fast and it derailed and claimed four lives. it would have prevented that

accident. the same token, it would have prevented the type of accident we are here to investigate. we think it's time to have it implemented. >> there was no positive train control outside of new york city in westchester when the train derailed going too quickly, is that right? >> that's exactly right. that was in the bronx. we have already made a determination that ptc would have prevented that accident. it's designed to prevent four things. one of the four things is prevent derailments due to overspeeding. that is what we are here looking at now. >> we are showing our viewers live pictures of the disaster area in philadelphia right now. it is horrendous. you pointed out earlier 238 passengers on those trains five members, five crew members, 243 people all together. as far as you know has everyone been accounted for? >> well i don't want to sound

impersonal when i say that's not our lane. we are very concerned about each and every individual on that train. however, we are here to investigate the accident itself and figures about accounting for every occupant that comes under the philadelphia office of emergency management. >> we are told that police detectives actually tried to interview the engineer of the train, but he refused and left with a lawyer. is that right? >> i don't have firsthand information about that. we are interested in interviewing the engineer. we want to find out his side of the story. it's not uncommon for somebody who has been through a tragic event like this to need a little bit of time off. so we hope to be able to interview the engineer in the next day or so. that's certainly our hope and our desire. >> do you have any reason to believe this engineer will not

cooperate? >> i don't have any indication to believe that one way or the other. >> how severely injured is the engineer? >> well as you know wolf there's hipaa law. i don't know his condition because the law prohibits the release of medical information about individuals. we are concerned about him as well as everybody else involved in this tragedy. >> we know the ntsb is the lead investigator of what happened in this disaster. are you getting full cooperation from the mayor, local officials as far as this investigation is concerned, at least so far? >> oh yes. we are getting great cooperation both from the city of philadelphia their first responders. we appreciate their hard work. and we are getting great cooperation from amtrak as well as the federal railroad

administration. >> robert a board member of the ntsb the national transportation safety board, leading the investigation. good luck. i know your mission is to learn what happened and to try to make sure it doesn't happen again. we are counting on you and we rely on you for this very very critically important information. good luck to you and your team. thank you very much for joining us. we are going to have more on the breaking news. we'll take a quick break. we'll be back in a moment. dear stranger, when i booked this trip, my friends said i was crazy. why would i stay in someone else's house? but this morning a city i've never been to felt like one i already knew. i just wanted to thank you for sharing your world with me. it felt like home. airbnb. belong anywhere.

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one loco motive seven passenger cars. look at the destruction there. seven people confirmed dead more than 200 injured, some in critical condition. let's go to brian todd on the ground in philadelphia. i know you had a chance to speak with one of the survivors, how did that go? >> reporter: wolf a compelling account of the train derailment. we look at the train as we look at the passing freight train. one of the last cars perched on its side. each car, according to the ntsb in the process of being removed. we spoke to two of the passengers in one of those last cars one of them a nurse, was on her way back to her home in new jersey from washington when the derailment occurred. she described a horrific scene. she was jolted from her seat. her son, max, caught her, then

got her off the train. here is what she had to say about those moments. >> i was slammed against the window you know the car actually turned on its side a little bit. then luggage starting flying at me and hit my chest and head. i still haven't come to terms with it i'm trying to. it's surreal. i can't quite grasp it, yet. >> reporter: joan suffered a concussion and broken ribs. her son, 19 years old, suffered a concussion. they say once he got her out of the train, he went back and pulled out several passengers. they estimate between a dozen and 20 passengers he helped pull out. he says he's no hero. he says that designation goes to the first responders. a heroic young man. got his mother out, then other

passengers even though he suffered a concussion. >> i know you are on the scene talking to the folks there. thank you very much. i want to bring in another expert an amtrak adviser. the transportation secretary for the obama administration ray lahood a former member of congress. secretary, thanks for joining us. it's alarming to hear the ntsb say this train went into the curve going 106 miles an hour and shouldn't have been going more than 50 miles an hour. what does that signal to you, a human error or possibly mechanical error? >> i would rather not get into the idea of who to blame here. that's really up to the professionals. the ntsb is the most professional organization in government that will be looking into all of this and interviewing the person driving the train and trying to look at the information from the black box. i think it's better really just to get all that

information, then hear what the ntsb has to say about it. i'm not going to lay blame. i'm not in a position to do that. >> i know you are advising amtrak right now. what have they said to you about this horrific derailment? >> you know i talked with the chairman this morning. and he was just getting briefed by a number of people. i have not had a chance to talk to him here at the end of the day. he and i will be in contact over the next several days. we'll hear what he has to say, then try and be as helpful as possible. >> we are all learning a lot about this system called positive train control, which would automatically prevent a train from going too quickly, too fast into a curve. most of the area in the northeast has this positive train control. this area in philadelphia did not. why not?

do you know? >> you know i don't know wolf. positive train control was something we worked on a lot when i was at d.o.t. it was mandated by congress so it's actually in the law that positive train control must be implemented not only by passenger rail but freight rail. it is an expensive item but, i know that amtrak was very near to having it implemented close to where this accident took place. i'm not precisely sure what the reason was that it wasn't -- had not been installed at the time of this crash. >> yeah, we just heard from robert the national transportation safety board that that train in the bronx that derailed not that long ago, also was going too fast into that curve and that area also did not have positive train control. it sounds like it should be in

effect all over the place. >> wolf it is amtrak's intention because it's the law to implement this throughout the system. it may be that it hadn't been done at this particular place on the system. >> what about putting cameras inside the locomotives to see what the engineer is up to? obviously, if there were a camera in there and being recorded, if the engineer dozed off, fell asleep or whatever that would be obvious. there are a lot of people, including the former managing director for the ntsb now cnn analyst sates it should be in place. do you agree? >> i do agree. there are cameras in other means of transportation. i think it is a good idea. we have to understand this wolf you saw today in congress where a house committee had the

opportunity to restore cut that is were going to be implemented and they didn't do it. so cameras cost money. everything that we are talking about, positive train control, cameras in there, you know people suggested to me today, you know what about seatbelts? all these things cost money. a lot of money comes from the federal government wolf. there has to be an understanding to use your resources wisely. while we were at d.o.t. we placed a high priority if not the number one priority on safety. i like the idea of cameras and the idea of safety of seatbelts. i would like to hear what the ntsb says about this. understand it costs money to do all these things. >> one final question mr. secretary before i let you go. a lot of folks are worried about getting on a train. should they be? >> absolutely not. amtrak has its highest priority

safety. the fra, the federal railway administration has the highest priority. i know the current secretary of transportation. i know everybody involved in train transportation including those in the freight rail business has as their number one priority priority safety. people should not be concerned about boarding trains. >> thanks for joining us. >> thank you. i want our viewers to stand by. we are continuing to follow the breaking news. we are also investigating a string of amtrak derailments. this is the tenth one this year alone. stand by.

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we are following breaking news. you can see the results. take a look at this. this is the devastation caused by the train derailment last night in philadelphia. seven passenger cars one locomotive 243 people on board. seven people confirmed dead. more than 200 injured. some are still in critical condition. this is the tenth amtrak derailment this year alone. our national correspondent susan is investigating the railroad's record for us. what are you finding out? >> reporter: for many people

familiar with the northeast corridor take amtrak all the time. for many years, the tram has been sharp decrease in fatalities. in history, we have seen a reversal. last year the total number of all railroad fatalities was 813. that is 20% higher than just three years ago. tuesday's amtrak crash is just the latest in a string of horrifying accidents on u.s. rails. according to the federal railroad administration on average, there have been 31 amtrak train derailments a year of varying degrees since 2006. so far, there have been nine this year prior to the most recent incident. some of the deadliest recent crashes involved commuter trains. in february just north of new york city a metro north commuter train killed a driver.

in december 2013 federal safety officials say in the bronx, another metro north jumped its tracks as it barrelled around the curve traveling three times it posted speed, killing four. with more than 11 million passengers traveling along the northeast corridor between washington and boston each year it's become one of the busiest, most complex and technically advanced rail systems in the world. engineering professor george bible says while traveling by train is largely safe passengers should be more concerned about the state of the tracks than speeding engineers. most derailments are caused by equipment error, rail problems are a common one. the rails can fracture from metal fatigue or move around and shift or anything else that moves. the common ones are wheels barings and axels. >> reporter: co-incidentally,

the sight of tuesday's crash in philadelphia was in the area the nation saw one of the deadliest train accidents in history. in 1943 a train from washington to new york went off the tracks killing 79 people. amtrak's deadliest accident in history occurred in 1993 in mobile alabama. a tugboat smashed into a river bridge causing it to collapse taking the train passing over with it. 47 died. moments ago, the ntsb national transportation safety board held a conference telling us the advanced civil enforcement should have slowed the train down could have. it's in most of the system but not this area. if it had been in this area they believe this accident would not have occurred. wolf? >> thanks very much. let's dig deeper with two guests. democratic congress from pennsylvania. the train disaster happened a

mile outside of his district. also with us the former national transportation board member john. thanks for joining us. john first to you. the train was traveling 106 miles an hour going into the curve that shouldn't have been going more than 50 miles per hour. how can that happen? what is your assessment? >> well we got to look at two different areas. did the engineer have the throttles positioned to go that fast? or did a malfunction occur that had the train essentially running away and why wasn't there a report and why wasn't the emergency brake applied earlier? we have a lot of unanswered questions at this point and time. overnight, i'm sure the ntsb will be digging into the recorders and looking at the physical evidence from the locomotive to determine the answers to some of those questions. >> we know from the ntsb the

train was going 106 miles an hour into that curve, that the emergency brakes were applied. it went down to 102 miles per hour but that's when the derailment occurred. what are you hearing over there? what is your analysis of how this happened? >> all of us are waiting for the national transportation safety board to do its review. i think that it is the very best agency in the world. we shouldn't get too far in front of it. obviously, it is either human or mechanical. to make a guess now, without their review i think would be irresponsible. >> this is your district basically, right next door to where this occurred congressman. what are you hearing from your constituents? a lot of them like to take the trains to washington or new york to philadelphia? >> it's a service along the northeast corridor. we need to be making sure that we invest in the infrastructure

and in the safety mechanisms necessary so that millions of passengers can do it and do it safely. in one of the challenges here in the congress is that we have been having a battle between a presidential request for dollars and the congress' desire to cut that. we think we need to rework our priorityies and invest in american infrastructure. >> we are going to have a lot more on this coming up including the -- we are getting on the derailment. to both of you, stand by. we are going to continue the breaking news. we're coming back. this is a live scene, by the way, of the deadly amtrak disaster. you can see what's going on right now. the investigators are there, they are on the scene. much more after this. ♪

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we are learning new details about some of the amtrak victims. we are working this part of the story at philadelphia's temple university hospital. what are you finding out? >> well wolf among those killed was 49-year-old jim gaines. he's the father of two. he died here in this hospital behind me early this morning from a chest trauma a major chest trauma. in this hospital alone, they saw 54 passengers from that train. half have been treated and released. 23 people are still inside this hospital tonight. eight are still in critical condition, fighting for their lives. for the

>> reporter: for the survivors of amtrak train 188, a moment of chaos and horror. >> i was thrown against the girl next to me against the window. people from the other side of the aisle started falling on top of us. so somebody's leg hit the side of my head. the rest of her body must have been in the luggage rack. >> i really thought this might be the end. there was no way to know like in the darkness. i mean so you just -- being able to taste dirt was lovely because you knew you were alive, not dead. >> reporter: among the dead justin zemser, a midshipman from the u.s. naval academy, on his way home to new york. >> he was his high school valedictorian, finishing up his second year as midshipman at the united states naval academy. he was a loving son, nephew and cousin who was very community minded. >> reporter: gymjim gaines father of two, who worked for the associated pre. an untold amount of still

missing. rachel jacobs ceo of a tech company, on her way home to her family in new york. >> she definitely was on the train. what's happening with that they don't have her on the list is because she didn't have a reserved ticket. she has a pass. because of the 10 pass they didn't have her name on the list. it works that you can get on at any time. >> reporter: also missing, robert gildersleeve 45-year-old executive and father of two from baltimore. he was going to new york on business. temple university took in the most patients treating over 50 with injuries ranging from minor to severe. >> i was surprised there were as few head injuries as we saw, and there were many many patients that had rib fractures. >> what does that tell you? >> lots of rib fractures. that there was a high energy crash. >> reporter: some of those treated and released from the hospital eventually made it to new york's pn station earlier today on another train. while the search for those still missing continues. and we are hearing confirmation

of another one of the seven killed. a wells fargo executive, his name is ahmed julani confirmed by the wells fargo company just a few moments ago. >> our hearts go out to the family and friends of all of those who unfortunately died in this horrific crash. sun breaking news continues with a live update from the scene of that amtrak derailment. we also have new details of the deadly accident.

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more on the breaking news that deadly amtrak disaster in just a moment. first, a series of what critics are calling blunders for possible presidential candidate jeb bush including mixed messages on the iraq war and an inadvertent campaign announcement. dana bash gins us with more. what's going on? >> reporter: pick your gop candidate. rand paul scott walker ted cruz. they've all said things they regret multiple times at this early stage of the 2016 race. jeb bush to his credit talks to the public and the press regularly, so it was bound to happen to him. unfortunately, his slip was about the war that makes people reluctant for another bush president. for jeb bush a third attempt at answering the question knowing what we know today, would he

make the same decision as his brother to invade iraq? >> of course you know given the power of looking back and having that of course anybody would have made different decisions. >> reporter: that was quite different from what he said to fox earlier this week. >> i would have. and so would have hillary clinton. just to remind everybody. so would have almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got. >> reporter: today in nevada after backlash from democrats and republicans alike, he said he misinterpreted the question. >> whatever i heard, it was translated knowing what you knew then what would you do? i answered it honestly. and i answered it the way i will answer all the time which is that this were mistakes made but based on the information that we had, it was the right decision. >> reporter: what's made matters worse for bush in his first attempt at cleanup, he dismissed a question about the war as hypothetical. >> in 20/20 hindsight you would make a different decision? >> yeah i don't know what that

decision would have been that's a hypothetical. but the simple fact is mistakes were made as they always are in life. >> reporter: today it was clear that irked at least one voter. >> don't you think running for president is hypothetical when you say if i run for president, dot, dot, dot? >> reporter: bush tried the human touch, talking about calling the family of fallen service members when he was florida governor. >> going back in time and talking about hypothetical what would have happened what could have happened i think does a disservice for them. >> reporter: likely presidential opponents, free of jeb bush's brotherly baggage when answering the would you have invaded iraq question are eager to pile on. >> even at the time invading iraq was a mistake. >> of course not. >> my answer would be no. >> reporter: jeb bush suffered a different blunder today, a slip of the tongue, inadvertent declaring his candidacy. >> i'm running for president in 2016 and the focus will be if i run, how do you create high sustained economic growth?

>> reporter: you heard him put the qualifier. >> if" in that sentence. there's a legal reason he has to be careful saying he's running for president, that is once they're a candidate they're subject to strict rules, in relation to raising money and communication with super pacs. >> thank you very much. erin burnett "outfront." the amtrak trace speeding at 106 miles an hour when it crashed. we're tonight learning the identity of the train engineer. we'll tell you everything we're learning at this moment. the engineer refusing to talk to detectives. philadelphia's mayor says there's no excuse for his actions. will he face criminal charges? kim jong-un executes his own defense minister before a crowd using anti-aircraft guns. what is happening in north korea? let's go out front.