A chartered train carrying dozens of GOP lawmakers to a Republican retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck south of Charlottesville, Virginia, on Wednesday, lawmakers said.

One person who was not aboard the train was killed, according to authorities and witness reports, and there were several injuries.

Speaking to reporters later on Wednesday, several Republican lawmakers described the scene.

Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio congressman who was a trauma surgeon in Iraq, was the first member to leave the train to help victims. He immediately went to the aid of one man with Phil Roe, a Tennessee congressman who is also a doctor.

Roe said of the fatality that he believed the death was “instantaneous”and added: “I don’t think he suffered.

But they described a scene – debris scattered, acrid smoke in the air and fluid leaking out of the train – that was gruesome. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he had to offer his spare shirt to the Texas representative Michael Burgess because the Texan was covered “in blood and phlegm and mud” after ministering to the injured.

Several of those on the train had been at a Virginia baseball field in June when a gunman opened fire, seriously wounding the congressman Steve Scalise, and said the scene brought back painful memories. The Arizona senator Jeff Flake, who was visibly affected talking to reporters, said he was reminded of “[Wenstrup] cutting a uniform to apply a tourniquet” on that day. “I never wanted to experience a day like that again and unfortunately it came too soon.”

At least two lawmakers were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The House speaker, Paul Ryan, was aboard and was unhurt, aides said.

Amtrak spokeswoman Beth Toll said two crew members and two passengers were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries after the incident, which happened around 11:20am in Crozet, Virginia, about 15 miles west of Charlottesville and two hours into the journey from Washington.

Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole said he felt “a tremendous jolt” when the accident occurred, and that the truck had been ripped in half. He added that he saw a person wrapped in tarpaulin and that emergency workers appeared to be “putting a body away”.

The train was en route to the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs for a three-day issues retreat featuring appearances by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

Play Video 0:59 Trump says GOP train accident 'was a tremendous jolt' - video

Trump spoke to Ryan by phone after the incident and later said, while in the Oval Office, that the lawmakers were “doing pretty good” although “it was a pretty rough hit”. They plan to continue with their conference, and were proceeding by bus, and are due to be addressed by the president on Thursday.

Minnesota representative Jason Lewis’s staff posted on Twitter that the first-term congressman was among those taken to the hospital. The tweet from Lewis’s account said he was being checked for a concussion because of the impact.

Representative Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee was among the injured.

The Republican said in a phone call from the scene, where he was being treated for his injuries, that he was on his way to the restroom when the crash occurred. He said he was thrown around upon impact and suffered neck, back and foot injuries and was experiencing shock and “significant pain”.



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The rail crossing where the crash happened is equipped with two advance warning signs, two roadway gate arms, two mast-mounted flashing lights and a bell to warn of an approaching train.

Benny Layne said the garbage truck landed on his property on Wednesday after the accident and that he had recently seen lines of cars stopped at the crossing, with the arms lowered even though no train was approaching. He said motorists would get out of their cars to help guide other motorists around the malfunctioning arms so they could cross the tracks.