A semi drove into the side of the train at 11:20 a.m. (PDT) at a public railroad crossing, the release said.



The crash occurred on U.S. 95 about 70 miles east of Reno, said Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Lopez. About 20 people aboard the train were taken to hospitals in Reno and Fallon, but he didn't know the extent of their injuries.



Lopez said the crossing gates were working. He said he wasn't sure if the railroad lights were operating but he believes they were.



Marianne Tidwell, a Chicago resident, said her daughter is an attendant on the train and was standing near a co-worker who was one of the people killed in the crash.



"She called me and said that the train had been hit," said Tidwell, who has another daughter who is a Tribune reporter. "It was a very bad accident, and her coworker was dead. She was just talking to her.



"I told her bad things happen to good people."



Amtrak passenger Jim Bickley told Sacramento, Calif., television station KXTV that the semi hit the fourth car on the train and two of the cars caught fire.



Another witness also said the truck hit the side of the train before it burst into flames, causing heavy smoke. The entire train was evacuated, the witness said.



A video taken by a passenger and sent to a Reno television station shows a chaotic scene as a plume of dark smoke pours from the train, with passengers who have already escaped calling to someone to "hang and jump," presumably from the upper level from the train.



Amtrak said anyone with questions about the passengers could call 800-523-9101.



"We are saddened by any injury and appreciate the emergency response by local and state agencies," Amtrak said in a statement.



The National Transportation Safety Board said its investigators were on the way to the scene.



The tracks cross the highway about three miles south of I-80 in the heart of the Forty Mile Desert, which was considered one of the deadliest sections of the entire overland journey by California-bound, covered-wagon pioneers in the 19th century.



The Associated Press contributed.



chicagobreaking@tribune.com



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