we'll see you again tonight at 11:00. have a great evening. tonight, the train disaster here in philadelphia. a tragedy on the tracks leaves at least seven dead two hundred injuries some in criticability condition. the train was going faster than 100 miles an hour. twice the speed limit. the victims, including a young navy midshian on his way home. a father on two traveling on business. and the survivors describing the horror inside the train. the panic to get out and to pull the injured to safety. tonight, vanished. the frantic search for six american marines on an aid mission in nepal. missing for more than a day. what happened to the chopper? nightly news begins now.

good evening. there is no better way to show you the scope of our lead story than tonight than from the air. we're talking about that deadly derailment of an amtrak regional train along the busiest rail corridor in the nation. the crumpled wreckage. six cars laying on their side. the locomotive was put back on its wheels a short time ago. as the camera pulls back you get a sense of the curve. the curve was being negotiated at a high rate of speed. at least seven were killed and 200 injured when that washington to new york train according to the ntsb jumped the tracks last night going faster than 100 miles an hour. tonight as investigators search for answers, travel has been disrupted indefinitely in this area. our team is in place

tonight on the ground to cover it all. we'll start off with nbc's tom costello. >> reporter: down my street is recovery underway. they've the police sniffer dogs in today and cranes to pull up the cars. there was concern there might still be other victims out there. that maybe they didn't see or maybe underneath the cars. we also learned today the name of the engineer. he is brandon bostian. he was navigating the curve at 106 miles an hour. that is double the posted speed limit on the tracks on philadelphia's north side investigators were picking through the remains of amtrak train 188. data from the critical black box suggest the train was traveling in excess of 100 miles an

hour. going into that curve, he was traveling at 160 miles per hour? >> correct. >> reporter: then what happened. >> shortly after he entered the curve she put the emergency breaks on the train. >> reporter: slams on the breaks. >> shut down the entire northeast corner. we have people on the tracks and a couple of cars overturned. >> reporter: in pitch black conditions firefighters and police faced an incredible scene pulling the dead and injured from the twistage wreckage of seven train cars that had gone off the track. >> we will classify this as mass casualty. >> reporter: 200 people injured. philadelphia mayor today. >> we are hort breaken of what has happened here. we have not experienced anything like this in modern times. we will get to the bottom of it and figure out why it

happened. that will take some time. >> reporter: on board, 243 passengers and crew members, many of them returning home including iraq war veteran and form were pennsylvania congressman who was in the cafe car when it lurched off the tracks. >> i thought i was a goner. i think most of us did. it was so violent. i'm a big guy, i was thrown like a rag doll. >> reporter: murphy pushed out the train's window and helped others escape. one of the passengers unconscious. >> there was people crying and screaming for help. >> reporter: also on the train nbc nightly news producer. philadelphia police say so far the engineer has declined to talk to investigators. >> they want to know when he went off duty e went to sleep, what he did while he was off duty. >> reporter: we're learning this section of track lacked a safety feature called

positive train control or pcc. which can monitor and control trains in a safe stop. >> based on what we know right now, we feel that had such a system been installed in the section of track, this accident would not have occurred. >> reporter: amtrak service along the corridor remains suspended. no indication when it will restart. lester. >> thanks. you mentioned toolg technology and how this could have been prevented. what could have prevented it we asked nbc's peter alexander to take a closer look. >> reporter: why was the train going so fast? it's still not known. >> it could be a mechanical issue. it could be a lack of awareness or training it could be an operator issue. >> reporter: last night's crash is hauntingly similar to this dramatic high speed disaster in spain two years ago. the train flew off the rail going over 100

miles an hour. experts insist the p thrks c technology could make accidents like this a thing of a past. it's a sophisticated ray of censors. even using satellites to track the movements. if a train is going too fast the computer warns the crew. if an engineer doesn't slow down it activates the brakes. speed has killed here before the. in new york city investigators say the engineer fell asleep as his train roared into a sharp curve at more than 80 miles an hour. ptc is on america's most wanted list. sections off the rrld from philadelphia to washington had ptc involved not the stretch of track where last night's crash occurred. >> this is exactly the type of incident that

ptc is designed to prevent. so we have seen this before. and we will continue to see it again until ptc is installed. >> reporter: amtrak is supposed to have the entire northeast corridor equipped with ptc by the end of this year. congress has been fighting over whether to extend the deadline lester by years. >> peter alexander, thanks. those of who do business in this part of the country use this rail line at any time. especially in the evening, people coming back from business coming to see family. there was a young navy midshipman on leave among the victims. stephanie gosk tells us more about those who lost their lives here. >> reporter: justin was a second year midshipman at the naval academy. he was supposed to be home by 10:30. >> there was a derailment and i kept calling hospitals. >> reporter: this morning his mother got the awful news her son had died. >> he was wonderful.

he was absolutely wonderful. everybody looked up to to my son. there's no other thing left to say. >> reporter: jim gaines worked for the associated press. he was killed on his way home after meetings in d.c. this man who worked at wells fargo didn't survive the crash either. three of the seven passengers who died. among the missing, 39-year-old rachel jock jacobs. bob is missing too. his family printed posters with his picture. others have found their loved one at this hospital. where the doctors performed surgeries and set bones all night long. >> we're fortunate there weren't nor deaths. what little i've seen suggested things could have been worse. >> reporter: jeff cutler agrees.

he was in the second car and felt it launch. >> i felt like we were flying. >> reporter: you had time to feel that sensation? >> i recall that sensation. it eventually tipped over with a thud. >> reporter: left with just bruises, he knows he's one of the lucky ones. ten passengers are listed at critical. doctors say that they do not face live threatening situations. lester. >> nbc's stephanie gosk. thanks very much. as we look at the wreckage right now below us from 1,000 feet. you see the cars lying on their side in the bright daylight. imagine that happening at night and all the confusion obboard. a member of our nbc news family -- you and i cover these things regularly. we cover horrible things. what is it like to find yourself in one of them?

>> i think i was operating under shock. my first instinct was get to the back door. you remember where it was. you're not far away. try to get back there. >> you shot more in the dark. i'm listening to this. how do we get out. you sound like confusion. >> people were panicked. smoke was starting to fill the car. i remember thinking will this blow up? can something catch on fire. >> what did you hear? >> screams, cries. people asking for cell phones. people asking for t shirts. people asking for help. then once we actually got out, the fear actually only increased. because the next question was, oh, my goodness could another train be coming down these tracks and then finally, what felt like forever, i saw over a dozen flash lights flashing in the darkness. i was like first responders are here.

>> my conversation with junel. we're happy to know she's okay. we appreciate her work in being involved in the story. we told you at the top of the broadcast, this is the busiest rail travel corridor in the country. amtrak and eight commuter railroads use it carrying 750,000 passengers every day. two thousand trains cross through here every day. shutting down this corridor for one day could cost an estimated $100 million in travel delays and lost productivity. even now as we look at the picture we have seen fresh rail being laid. they are prepared as soon as the wreckage is cleared to get the tracks back in order. in the meantime there is a political element to all this. hours after the tragedy here in gifl philadelphia the fight for funding

flaired up flaired up. >> reporter: the shock of what happened made the battle for funding more emotional. democrats wanted to see an increase in funding. they look at the accident and say it's an example of the need to improve our infrastructure. republicans who always argue that amtrak needs to turn a profit and not rely on taxpayers would not budge. democrats asked for $2.5 billion. republicans actually approved a cut to $1.1 billion. this is a battle of different priorities. republicans say they want to hold the line on spending. democrats who have constituents who use amtrak say riders need more resources. lester? >> all right. kelly o'donnell tonight. we'll have much more on the trail derailment from over philadelphia. there are other big stories we want to get to, including the search for six u.s. marines on an aid mission in nepal. they disappeared over a day ago in their

helicopter during a relief mission. katy tur updates us. >> reporter: search crews looked for a hewy like one that disappeared tuesday while delivering earthquake relief to a remote village. the missing, six marines. his family says captain from wichita. the missy huey was equipped with an emergency beacon secure radio j gps. as well as strobes, flares signal mirrors and a satellite phone. so far, there's been no trace. >> some of the communications that they possess require a line of sight to satellites. they could be located in an area where the terrain is actually preventing them from broadcasting. >> reporter: the search continues and

so does the relief effort. right here was a nine story building this one right here was a five story building. they were standing yesterday morning. survivors have been pulled from the rubble but the chances of finding more and of finding the missing huey grow gimmer by the hour. how concerned are you? >> very concerned. i'm concerned as if one of my own children didn't come home at night. we'll continue to find them. >> reporter: katy tur, nbc news, katmandu . more of our coverage above the amtrak scene in philadelphia. how to get out alive in

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we remain in the air over philadelphia and the sight of that amtrak derailment. one of the remarkable things you see from this altitude. you get a appreciate for that curve as the train leaves downtown philadelphia and comes along here. maeng the train hurdling down that curve at better than 100 miles an hour. imagine you are in that crash. not like an airliner where you've received a safety briefing. would you know what to do to get out alive? we asked jeff rosen to take a look. >> reporter: the images are frightening. desperate passengers struggling to escape from the mangled train. >> keep crawling, okay. >> reporter: yelling

in the dark for help frantically trying to pry open the doors. if this were your train, would you know how to get out? >> in an emergency there are three ways to go get out. >> this is the safety expert for septa. >> every train in the country has emergency signs. if you see the sign you can open the main door of the train you came on and follow the instructions. >> reporter: even the constructor or engineer are too busy to open the door you can open it yourself. >> absolutely. >> reporter: can i try? >> yes. >> reporter: lift and pull open the rain and push this red handle down and the door is released. i can open it the rest of the way. this is a pretty big drop here. you want to be careful getting out. you can open the windows yourself too. >> every train car is emergency exit windows. you pull it pull all the rubber from around that window e. grab the handle and pull the window towards you and you can go out the window. but it's a seven to eight foot drop to the ground.

>> reporter: in most train crashes there's fire and smoke. how do you get out alive when you can't see. recently we filled this car with simulated smoke to show you. >> you want to get on the floor. this is where you can breathe. we have glow in the dark dark striping. >> reporter: with more than 2000 train accidents last year alone. tips you made need to survive. jeff rosen, nbc news philadelphia. >> we're back with more news in a moment including a life and death decision in boston. the off! outdoor refresher course. sunsets. sfx: ding! hello you... and you too. meet "outside"... where the golden hour is approaching along with the buzzy suck-squad. sfx: buzz! it's been a while... but, you can do this. step 1: open door. sfx: ding! step 2: activate off! clip-on. sfx: ding! mosquito protection you don't spray on. sfx: ring radial sound step 3: (ahem) face west. sfx: birds chirping get back out there... with off! clip-on.

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if eliquis is right for you. as we come back over philadelphia and the derailment site it looks like they have built a road to bring the wreckage of the train cars at some point when they're released by the ntsb. while we watch that we are watching another big story playing out in boston.

it's a life and death decision in the marathon bombing trial. more from pete williams. >> reporter: the jury deliberated briefly today and will resume work together. prosecutors say only the death penalty can bring justice for the marathon bombings. they said dzhokhar tsarnaev acted as a terrorist to make a political point and he and his older brother were partners in crime. but his lawyers say if not for tamerlan who became radicalized the bombings wouldn't have happened. they say he would serve a life sentence at the prison in colorado. an eye for an eye is not who we are. his lawyers are hoping they can get one juror to vote for life. >> thanks. a divisive step by the vatican. it is a move pope francis has been

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as we look autosome of the tattered carriages from the derailment. we want to take a look at some of the heroes who emerged from the chaos of the train crash. >> reporter: harry and his 16-year-old son chris were on their way home from the grocery store blocks away. what did you hear and what did you see that made you come to the crash site. >> flash of light and a lot of noise. >> reporter: like nothing you'd seen before? >> i never heard anything like the noise. >> reporter: when you got to the crash site what were the sounds you were hearing on site? >> people yelling out. please can you help us. can you get us out of here. help. help. >> i helped a pregnant female. she had her side and she was more worried

about the people that were in the train injured than her ownself. >> reporter: kind of like a mother? >> yes. >> reporter: you don't know if something is going to blow up burn up. what were you thinking about your safety of your own son? >> he's doing the right thing by helping, that's the way i taught him. >> i'm thinking if that train car, something happens, what am i going to do. >> reporter: but you kept going. >> it takes a lot out of you not to help. you want to do everything in your power to get everybody that you can off that train. >> reporter: harry says he wants no credit for what he and his son did, saying he's just an average joe. but others may say, not today. >> that is going to do it for us on this wednesday night. a big thanks to our

colleagues at wcau for their coverage and for providing these views of the wreckage. i'm lester holt for all of us at nbc news thank you for watching and good night. there's over two hundred thousand students in philadelphia. jim kenney and tony williams are fighting over public schools versus charters. i think they're both wrong...it's making sure they all get a good education. teachers should have their contracts respected. they also should be held accountable. and it's wrong philadelphia gets less school funding than other parts of pennsylvania. i'll work with harrisburg to change that. but if they refuse i'll take them to federal court. as mayor i'll do what's right for them.

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