captain roy taylor will be live at the moment with conditions around the scene. right now, our lead investigative reporter is in the newsroom with growing concerns amid the tragic accident. our live, local, late breaking coverage begins in ellicott city with the latest on the investigation. >> it is a very active seen out here, still in ellicott city at the interest asia -- intersection of st. paul street and maryland ave. crews from csx are taking coal that has fallen from the trains. you can see the one next to the caboose laying in a wooded area. they're taking a nickel and moving it to another section of the track. -- they are taking the coal and moving it to another section of the track. the main priority is to get the cars away from the tracks so they can reopen this line.

moments ago, the ntsb held a news conference where they said they interviewed both operators in this case and the operators told them they did not see anything out of the ordinary on the tracks or apply the brakes. rather, an emergency brake went off sometime during the trip after some sort of separation in an air hose in between one of the cars and the train derailed. this tragedy took the lives of two women sitting on a bridge near the tracks. tuesday afternoon, csx crews began the task of writing to the cars that derailed overnight. >> i just heard this screeching like the brakes were on and the table i was near was shaking. it was unreal. i figured it derailed. >> the apartment is just feet away from are several cars fell

off a bridge on to automobiles alone. >> -- automobiles alone. >> i normally parked there and i moved my car at the last minute. the debris is unreal. >> sometime around midnight, a 3,000 ft., a car coal train traveling from west virginia to baltimore derailed as it headed through downtown ellicott city traveling approximately 25 miles an hour, sending 21 cars off the track. a man who works at a nearby bar says the scene was chaotic. >> it was mass mayhem like when a kid on christmas destroys a lot of cars on a train track. you can rebuild that and nobody gets hurt, but here, two people were killed and it was not good at all. >> those two women were rose mayr and elizabeth nass, both 19 years old. police confirmed the girls'

bodies were found on the main street bridge buried beneath cold dumped from the cars. two engineers were uninjured. in a strange and eerie twist of fate just before the derailment, one of them tweeted out to photos -- one of her feet hanging over the bridge and another with a look down main street from the bridge. >> it was a continuous boom, boom, boom. >> the man who works the door at the phoenix says it seemed surreal. >> it was totally unbelievable. >> we are back live now and the ntsb says is looking at areas signals, track conditions and bridges as well as reviewing on board video taken on a train to determine the exact cause. >> reaction is korea and from

those who knew the victims. among them, a principal of a high-school or both of them graduated in 2010. >> it is a devastating for the staff and friends and family and the entire community. we have a close-knit community and to hear of the loss of two members of our community and to graduates is tragic. >> he says the girls were highly active in school and well-liked. officials are making counselors available to students who do need help. the derailment raises the issue of up traveling throughout populated areas. what was to blame? more on that from our investigative reporter live in the newsroom. >> there wer no hazardous materials on board, just a lot of coal weighing as much as 100 tons per car. th is why the two girls died. >> according to their own twitter pages, the girls were on

the railroad bridge around the time the train derailed. a source familiar with the investigation says there is no evidence there were struck by the train. their bodies were found buried and nicole when the cars toppled over. there were likely crushed to death. did their presence on the bridge contribute to the derailment? and likely says a trade expert. even if the brakes were applied, that should not have thrown cars and track. the expert says investigators will focus on the condition of the train and the rails. did the recent extreme heat cause in the rails to expand? when were they last inspected? the heavy rains called flash flooding? did it trains wheel assembly fail, causing the will to break apart?

11 years ago, in the 2001, a freight train derailment in baltimore caused massive disruption. that train was carrying toxic materials. the train here was limited to call, but a populated area is paralyzed by freight industry -- freight incident that happened in its backyard. the train was traveling to baltimore. all downhill, according to the expert we spoke with, requiring a lot of breaking which can cause the heating of of the wheels on the train. >> you are looking at live pictures right now of the railroad cars over the bridge. we can tell you right now, if you are coming into baltimore county, unless you actually live

there, you cannot get through. it is all blocked off because of the equipment. as far as the howard county side, some businesses are still open. make sure you call because it has shut down about two or three blocks from the bridge. >> and navy seals from atwater is one of the 11 people who died in last week's blackrock helicopter crash. ever since he was 12 years old, the petty officer wanted to be a navy seal. >> he graduated from riverside high school in edge water and enlisted in the navy in 2006. he was assigned to seal team 32 years later. >> he achieved so much and was so well respected in the community, the seal community. he will be missed.

he was a rising star, one of the best. >> family friends and his seal teams say he embodied a deep threat of patriotism and sense of purpose to make a posive difference in life. >> he had a passion in everything he did. love, life, work, he had a sense of humor, a unique sense of humor. >> he is on a special operations mission when his black car -- his passengers included three explosive experts and the interpreter. blackrock was engaged in a firefight and went down in rugged terrain. the taliban says they shut it down. >> he very much wanted to be a seal. that is a little deeper. he wanted to serve his country. >> his father planted the seeds

of that tree when he was 4 years old. in middle school, he joined the sea cadets and carved the his ambitions and the bottom of a dresser drawer. >> he carved the is going to complete buds. he would find inspirational quotes or right things to himself so that he saw them in the morning when he got dressed. >> he would do the job to the best of visibility and the he would be able to insure all the other operators were prepared and ready to do their jobs to the best of their ability. he would coach them and push them to be the best they could be and be the role model they aspire to be. >> see is defined as a determined individual. he is survived by his parents, a sister, and his wife. his seal teammates issued a statement saying he was a

consummate professional, who embodied what is to be a warrior. >> baltimore city police say preyed on the elderly residents, they owed property-tax is and tonight, those suspects are behind bars. >> police say five people are behind bars and they say they worked together to call onld people out of lots of money and a some cases, even the assault of them. the police department is calling the action of these people despicable, especially considering the victims are between the ages of 70 and 95. these five suspects are accused of skimming and robbing elderly victims all over the city. they each face a long list of charges, including robbery, theft and exploiting a

vulnerable adults. >> the five suspects we have conspired to do these crimes together. >> they called to prepare -- pretending to be is the tax collector. they said they didn't pay, they would be evicted from their homes. shortly after, a man would show up to collect the money. if there was resistance, police say they would get violent. >> they actually tied a victim of. they have pushed the elderly around and slapped them and put a towel over someone's head. that could have led to suffocation. >> it's hard to know how much money was taken in total with the average amount was several thousand dollars. please urge you to be cautious of his coming by air, and call if you see anything suspicious. police urged any potential victims to call them at their earliest convenience. >> with classes less than one

week away, major transportation changes lie ahead for city's school students. coming up, what you need to know. >> as we turn to the final 40 games of the seasonally turned to the top pitching prospect and see how they look coming to the race. race. >> a few

i'm one of six children that my mother raised by herself, and so college was a dream when i was a kid. i didn't know how i was gonna do it, but i knew i was gonna get that opportunity one day, and that's what happened with university of phoenix. i feel like the sky's the limit with what i can do and what i can accomplish. my name is naphtali bryant and i am a phoenix. enroll in the program that's right for you at phoenix.edu/maryland

>> if your child is one of the students to ride a bus to school in baltimore city, expect some changes. you can expect possible route and schedule changes if you ride one of the district buses. more schools will be starting at the same time. at least 50 schools were operating on different bell schedules. students can expect new electronic bus passes to be issued on the first day of class. >> we are running less of it -- less than a 20 percent chance of a shower on the baltimore area. one spot picking at some rain, a shower has popped up trying to develop into a thunderstorm but no lightning strikes reported yet. inside the beltway, they are dealing with wet weather but it is still dry across the baltimore area. the closest showers are a band of showers and in southwestern

pennsylvania, stretching north of deep creek lake. that has a little under associated with that but it doesn't look like it will survive after sunset and we should be in for a pleasant evening. the high temperature was cooler than normal. the fourth straight day where you average out the temperatures and we end up with a cooler than normal day. we hit 83 at the airport and 61 for the morning low. the record low in 2000 was a chilly 51 degrees. comfortable right now around of baltimore. cooler up in the mountains where they have had showers. the suburbs will probably reach the upper 60s with when the becoming one of nearly calm and skies mostly clear through that evening. high pressure to the north and

west producing temperatures in the 40's this morning. 39 degrees. this will be strengthening and dominating the mid-atlantic as we head into the rest of the work week, meaning some nice summer weather on tap. high temperatures will reach about 86. we will average alone below normal for most areas. at 7:52. n wednesday on the chesapeake to are, winds will be manageable because winds around -- with waves around 1 foot or less. in the mountains, cool at night but rise in the low 70's have lots of sun. if you have plans to be in the mountains, it's a good week to be out there. sunny to partly cloudy with fries and the low 80s each day.

at an ocean city, skies averaging partly cloudy with a risk of a a thunderstorm and land, but only a 20% chance. we are tracking the next tropical storm of the season. this has become a tropical storm isaac. about 500 miles east to the caribbean. 40 miles an hour winds and it's expected to become a category one hurricane as it turns toward south florida and the next five days. sunny skies on thursday and friday. otherwise a pleasant five days at to the weekend. and our next chance of storms off until next tuesday. >> the fourth and final preseason game belongs to the iraqis. this week cost third preseason game along to ray lewis and the

irregulars. the ravens planned to play many of their starters against jacksonville. they use the first preseason game to get used to speed and ease to techniques here. the third preseason game, the years to simulate how they want to play as a team in the regular season. ray lewis knows exactly what they're raven's want to take away from thursday night in. >> folks changed from getting good drives going and defense. continue to get off the field and i think it's a good chance to start communicating with each other and getting ready for the regular-season. >> we'll have you covered on thursday night before, during and after the reagans came. pregame coverage of seven

followed by our simulcast. live coverage calling the game from the field. the orioles have two games left and texas. probably just as well. it is their worst mark against any team and in this year and had lost 8 of 9 against texas and they cannot afford to let that continue. the loss pushes the orioles to the edge of holding on to the wild-card spot. still plenty of baseball left with 40 games on the schedule, but they don't want to come off that road trip standing on the outside looking in. the first pitch is at 8:05. while the orioles tried to stay on course, their top prospects tries to stay on the edge to the majors.

a quality start with no decision. he pitched six innings to why he gave up two runs. if he starts to look dominant, the orioles could face a tough decision if they come to the first week of september looking for a pitcher to make a difference in the playoffs. your seven best forecast a straight ahead. ♪

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>> more on the devastating train diriment that claimed the lives of two college students. we will have the late breaking details of the cleanup continues. a new wrinkle in a controversial the old ruling. with the state court has now decided.

>> your seven-day forecast features temperatures that are normal off on a little cooler than normal. >> if you could deliver 61 to 81 was no rain, he might have a position and the starting lineup. >> another chance for showers or stores but not until tuesday of next week. things are looking pretty good. >> thank you for clarifying. nbc nightly news brian williams is next.