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Bloomberg visits Metro-North crash victims at hospitals – Metro US

Bloomberg visits Metro-North crash victims at hospitals

metro north train The Metro-North passenger train derailed en route to New York City near the Spuyten Duyvil station, killing four people and wounding 63 others on Dec. 1.
Credit: Getty

After drawing some criticism for not going to the accident scene of this weekend’s Metro-North train derailment, Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited victims at two hospitals Sunday evening.

“What can I do?” Bloomberg said. “I’m not a professional firefighter or police officer. Nothing I can do.”

“All I can do is make sure that the right people from New York City, our police commissioner, our fire commissioner and emergency management commissioner are there,” he added.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, NYPD Chief of Department Phillip Banks III and MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast appeared at a morning press conference with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo also spoke to the press with National Transportatation Safety Board Member Earl Weener in the afternoon.

Bloomberg spokesman Marc La Vorgna told the Daily News,”It’s appropriate for the governor to be the lead official” because the MTA is a state agency.

Seventy people were injured in Sunday’s crash, with as many as 11 in critical condition.

The four people killed in the derailment were identified as Ahn Kisook, 35, of Queens; Donna Smith, 54 of Newburgh, N.Y.; James Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, N.Y.; and James Ferrari, 58, of Montrose, N.Y.