McHenry, Tillis escape injury in Virginia train wreck

Two lawmakers who represent Western North Carolina in Washington were on an Amtrak train that slammed into a garbage truck at midday Wednesday, but neither U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-Lincoln, nor U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., was hurt.

"I was not injured in the crash but ask that you join me in praying for those who were," McHenry wrote on Twitter. Tillis tweeted shortly after the wreck that it appeared no one on the train was hurt.

Dozens of Republican lawmakers were on the train en route to an annual retreat in West Virginia.

It collided with the garbage truck at 11:20 a.m. about 12 miles west of Charlottesville, Virginia. One person, apparently on the truck, died in the incident, the White House said.

Amtrak spokeswoman Beth Toll later told The Associated Press two crew members on the train and two passengers were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

WRAL.com reported that eight lawmakers from North Carolina were on the train but none were injured.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-Buncombe, said told the Citizen Times that Meadows was driving himself to the event separately and was not on the train.

North Carolina's other senator, Republican Richard Burr, was also not on the train.