Nearly 50 people were injured on Friday when two commuter trains collided during evening rush hour near the Connecticut town of Fairfield, shutting down Amtrak service between New York and Boston indefinitely, police and transit officials said.

Authorities said there were no reports of fatalities in the accident that occurred shortly after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT).

Anita Shrum, a spokeswoman for Bridgeport Hospital, said one person was seriously injured but the other 21 people it had received could be described as “walking wounded” with a variety of injuries. “They are doing OK, they are very stable,” Shrum said.

Dianne Auger, a spokeswoman for St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, said one of the 27 people taken there was in serious condition with head and neck injuries. Commuter trains on this busy commuter line to New York typically carry up to 300 passengers.

The number of injured could rise because hospital officials were told to prepare to receive up to 180 patients total.

Passengers wait to be picked up by bus after two commuter trains collided in Bridgeport, Connecticut, causing one to derail injuring numerous passengers.
Credit: Reuters

The accident occurred when an eastbound train on the Metro-North commuter rial line derailed and collided with a train headed in the opposite direction near the suburban town of Fairfield, said spokesman Aaron Donovan of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the railroad.

Amtrak officials said in a statement that it suspended service indefinitely on the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston and New York.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately known. Fairfield is about 50 miles north of New York City.

A woman is transported to the hospital after two commuter trains collided in Bridgeport.
Credit: Reuters

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The injury that Kevin Ware suffered in Sunday’s NCAA regional final between Louisville and Duke was, arguably, the most sickening sight in sports television history.

If you get queasy when watching someone roll an ankle or have a finger popped back into place, do not, I repeat, DO NOT watch this video:

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  Louisville’s Kevin Ware breaks leg (gruesome)

If you are an under-the-weather puppy that DOES like to watch this type of stuff, with one eye closed at least, then you will want to compare Ware’s injury with these disgusting breaks:

The gold standard

The video is grainy and it’s tough to tell just how bad he got it, but every sports fan over the age of 40 swears that Joe Theismann breaking his leg against the Giants is the the most gruesome sports injury of all-time. There is breaking your leg and then there is BREAKING your leg like Theismann did that night.

Theismann’s name is so synonymous with this type of injury that his tweet Sunday was agreed to be the most relevant tweet of all: “Watching Duke/ Louisville my heart goes out to Kevin Ware.”

Your knee isn’t supposed to bend like that

The world was watching when University of Miami running back Willis McGahee had his knee bashed in during the 2002 National Championship game. Most in the world wished that ABC never showed the replay 500 times.

Who says wrestling is fake?

WCW was in a ratings war with WWE at the time of this hideous leg injury. Things were so ridiculous at the time that many thought that the injury was just a ploy by WCW to grab more viewers. Nope. It was all too real for Psycho Sid that night.

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Over 500 people have been injured after a surprise meteor shower struck central Russia Friday morning. Video reports show a streaking fireball that broke up and rained fragments onto the Urals region.

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  Meteorite crash in Russia

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  Sonic boom blows out windows in Russian school

Most of the injuries are thought to be cuts and bruises but not life-threatening. The shower did serious structural damage, particularly to the city of Chelyabinsk, some 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow, where Metro’s office was damaged with the roof and windows smashed.

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  Meteor shower destroys Metro office in Chelyabinsk

“First there was a blinding flash. My wife and I were in a panic wondering if there was a war,” said Metro Chelyabinsk editor Oleg Lastochkin. “Four minutes after the flash, we felt a shock wave and the apartment windows were shaking. Street car sirens went off and then we heard five or six explosions.”

When the editor arrived at the office, “there was broken glass and one of the staffers was wounded by shrapnel. I drove her to the hospital, which was completely full.”

The lack of information from authorities frustrated Lastochkin. “The police reported that the alleged meteor rain was known in advance. So why not warn people?” he said.

First person account from Metro Chelyabinsk editor Oleg Lastochkin

Armageddon came at 9:30am. I was at home when I first saw a blinding flash. At first, I thought it was a headlight but it blinded me for a moment. Five minutes after that flash, I felt a shock wave. Windows began to shatter, car sirens were roaring. And finally we heard an explosion… five or six of them.

My wife and I started to panic, wondering if a war had begun; we saw a trail in the sky, which was clearly not left by an airplane.

Everyone on the minibus taxi en route to the office were talking about the meteor. Some mobile phone networks stopped working.

When I arrived to the Metro office, there was broken glass all over the floor. The room was filled with flumes of dust. One of my staff was injured by glass shrapnel, so we took her to the hospital.

The police reported that the meteor shower was known in advance. So why didn’t they warn people?

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Disaster struck at 8 am, when the low-flying aircraft span out of control and collided with a construction crane on St George Wharf Tower, a luxury apartment building under development along the River Thames. Both the helicopter and part of the crane crashed to the ground in flames, terrifying passersby on one of London’s busiest commuter routes.

Emergency services were quickly on the scene, with 90 firefighters tackling the blaze and rescuing one man from a burning car. Six of the injured were treated on site with the rest transferred to hospital, while police cordoned off the area and closed local tube, train and bus stations.

One of the fatalities was pilot Peter Barnes, alone in the helicopter. The other is understood to have been in a nearby building.

Eyewitnesses described the terror. “I was walking to work when I heard a bang and looked up to see the crane crashing down,” Terry Fernee, a local construction worker, told Metro. “I ran back to the traffic lights and looked up the road and saw it was in flames.”

Security guard Hadji Bangoura said, “The sound of the crash was like an explosion. People were running in panic, screaming ‘we are under attack’.”

Although the crash took place just meters from the MI6 headquarters, the intelligence agency dismissed fears of a terror attack. Aviation authorities are investigating, but witnesses reported the crane’s aviation light was not working and hidden by fog.

Despite the tragedy, Met Police Commander Neil Basu said “it was something of a miracle that this was not many, many times worse.” Had the crash taken place later in the morning, there would have been many more commuters on the street, and the crane operator was saved by being late for work that day.

The city was suffering severe disruption Wednesday, with several hub stations and roads locked down.

“The priority is to get transport running again,” said Basu.

The construction site adjacent to the crane had also been suspended, and workplaces on the street remained inaccessible.

(Image via Twitter)

(Image via Getty)

Wreckage at the scene after a helicopter reportedly collided with a crane attached to St Georges Wharf Tower in Vauxhall.

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In 2009, the starboard bow of the vessel made contact with the ferry dock at East 35th Street, resulting in a two to three foot tear six or seven feet above the waterline.

In 2010, there was “a hole punched through the skin of the ship well above the waterline” after hitting “a cluster of fender piles” at the dock. The names of the people involved in those incidents were redacted from the publicly available records.

The police would not confirm reports that the ferry’s crew passed breathalyzer tests after today’s incident.

Metro’s original story is below.

At 8:43 a.m. Wednesday morning police officers and fire fighters responded to reports of a ferry crash at the Pier 11 Seastreak ferry terminal near South Street Seaport.

The FDNY and NYPD reported 57 injuries found on the scene, though the U.S. Coast Guard reported 58. Initial reports indicated two critical injuries, one of which was brought to Weill Cornell Hospital on the upper east side, the other to nearby New York Downtown Hospital. New York Downtown Hospital downgraded that patient to stable after examination.

Other than the two critically injured victims, the FDNY said they encountered a mix of serious and minor injuries, but none were life-threatening.

The high-speed commuter ferry was operated by a company called Seastreak, and the vessel was called Wall Street, according U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe. It had departed from Highlands, New Jersey.

Rowe said the Coast Guard is conducting an investigation into the circumstances of the collision already, and is being joined by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Rowe reported 326 passengers on board, as well as five crew members. The most visible damage was to the starboard bow (the front of the ferry, on the right side), three feet above the waterline.

The vessel is about 130 feet long, and weighs 98 gross tons. There were no injuries on the dock, only on the ferry, and no one was thrown or fell into the water.

Rowe said the last truly comparable ferry accident occurred in 2010, when the Staten Island ferry crashed into the St. George Terminal on Staten Island, resulting in multiple injuries. He noted that the Staten Island ferry is a different and much larger vessel.

As of 2 p.m. New York Downtown Hospital had 24 patients being treated, but had already released several.

One man, dressed in a suit with a loosened tie, exited the hospital with scrapes on his left temple and appeared dazed.

Tony Lucia was on his way to work from his home in Allenhurst, New Jersey. He was seated on the first level by the window, in the third row from the back. Lucia said the ferry was going very fast, and he and the other passengers felt no change in speed to indicate that it was docking.

When the ferry made impact with the dock, he was thrown 20 feet.

“Everyone flew, and people were on the ground,” Lucia recounted outside New York Downtown Hospital. “We didn’t know what had happened, you couldn’t tell. We just hit something and it was a disaster.”

(Photos via Reuters)

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According to A Great Big City, cops tried to pull over the driver when the Hummer was spotted going the wrong direction down Sixth Avenue at around 2:15 p.m. The site also reports the Hummer was stolen from Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club on 25th Street — the site of President Obama’s fundraiser tonight.

The driver of the Hummer took off, eventually colliding with a taxi and an MTA bus on 23rd St. The vehicle also damaged the Rub BBQ restaurant at 208 West 23rd St.

The driver was reportedly arrested at the scene.

According to the FDNY, eight people were injured in the incident. Four of the victims had serious injuries, while the other four sustained minor injuries. One person refused treatment. The rest of the victims were transported to Beth-Israel Hospital or Bellevue. 

The NYPD was not releasing further information this afternoon.

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Officials said the blast occurred at a construction site near West 14th St. and 10th Ave. around 10 a.m. The site is near the High Line, where many people are out to enjoy the warm weather.

The NYPD said two people were injured by shards of glass during the explosion and they were transferred to Bellevue Hospital.

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Seven other people were wounded in the shooting at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, UPMC said in a Twitter posting.

“Police have told us there were 9 total victims … 2 of whom have been confirmed dead,” UPMC said on Twitter.

“According to police, 1 of 2 confirmed dead… is believed to be the shooter,” it said on Twitter.

Earlier reports of a second shooter were inaccurate, UPMC said.

UPMC spokeswoman Allison Schlesinger said victims were taken to the UPMC Presbyterian Emergency Room.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said a UPMC police officer had been shot in the leg.

The incident began at about 2 p.m.

An eyewitness said police were escorting people out of the psychiatric institute, and police were going into the building with bomb-sniffing dogs.

Pittsburgh city police had officers at the scene but could not yet provide details, a spokesman said. A university police spokesman said he had no information to report.

Measures have been put into place to secure hospital patients and staff, UPMC said on Twitter.

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But the early leader for the 2012 “Worst Injury of the Year” is Dustin Penner, a wing on the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. Penner is married to Jessica Welch, a low-level actress you probably have never heard of.

Die-hard hockey fans may know her as the ex-wife of another NHL player, Richard Zednik. They were married for three years before a contentious divorce in which he gave her $1 million in cash.
At any rate, Welch made Penner a nice pancake breakfast, and his back froze to the point that he couldn’t stand up. He said, “I just leaned over to dip into some delicious pancakes that my wife made.
… It’s just like [the pain] wraps around you and squeezes … so it was disappointing. Hopefully it’s just an isolated incident.”

A-Rod pins one more

What’s Alex Rodriguez better at — choking in the postseason or finding muscular women to date? Rodriguez, who hasn’t hit above .273 in the Yankees’ last three playoff series, recently began dating former wrestler Torrie Wilson.

Yes, his girlfriend used to wrestle.

I should be careful here, because I’ve seen the recent photos of Wilson in a bikini and she’s got bigger biceps than I do. Wilson is ripped. Her abs look as if they were chiseled from granite. Wilson has posed for Playboy twice, but I wouldn’t Google that if you’re reading this at work.

–Jason Raj McIntyre covers athletes off the field and runs the popular sports blog, TheBigLead.com.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages. Opposing viewpoints are welcome. Send submissions to letters@metro.us.

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Three main contributors were finally able to get back on the practice field. Defensive end Justin Tuck, running back Brandon Jacobs and right guard Chris Snee all returned to action, chomping at the bit to get back to work — even if they’re preparing for the lowly Dolphins.    

Snee, who suffered a concussion three weeks ago, said he has no worries about playing Sunday.   

“The bye week kind of helped with that,” Snee said of any lingering effects. “If I had to go back out last week and play, I probably would have been a little worried about it. But I had an extra week to heal. I’ll have no contact really until Sunday, so I feel confident.”   

Snee also addressed any concerns about getting another concussion.    

“I hope this is the only time I have to deal with it, because they say every time [you get a concussion] it gets worse,” Snee said. “If I had to go back last week, I would have been a little worried about it, but now I’m not.”    

Head coach Tom Coughlin was asked if Tuck seemed significantly better during his time and the coach said it’s all a process. He added the real test is to see how Tuck’s neck and groin react to the down time, once his body shuts down for the day and he cools down.    

“It seemed like it,” Coughlin said when asked if Tuck looked loose. “We will see how they are tomorrow with the guys who are coming back. We tried to stay away from getting anybody in a position where they would be sore, so we will have to see.”       

When asked if it’s a relief to finally see his roster becoming intact, Coughlin said it doesn’t hurt.   

“It is something that we have been looking for,” Coughlin said. “I don’t know if uplifting would be the word. It is a good sign to have guys out there. Hopefully we will have the consistency of all these guys practicing and it will give us extra gas in our tank.”    

Big Blue notes

» Wednesday’s injury list included the usual suspects — linebacker Michael Boley (knee), fullback Henry Hynoski (neck), cornerback Prince Amukamara (foot) and defensive end Osi Umenyiora (knee) — but all participated. Coughlin even got testy when asked prior to practice if any players on the injury list would be held back (“just look at the sheet,” he bemoaned), but all worked without much limitations.    

» Ramses Barden is almost all the way back from his litany of maladies and was excited to finally get back on the field with his team. The young wideout took about a third of the snaps in practice and was just giddy afterwards: “People always say [they feel like] a kid in a candy store. But I felt like I was in a bank vault without security cameras. This morning in meetings I was jittery and jumping around. Everybody said, ‘Relax.’ They were calling me out – ‘fresh legs’ – and all the little jokes you hear when you come back. But I’m just happy to be back with the guys and feel like I’m part of the team again.”    

» Offensive lineman Adam Koets, who, like Barden, has been on the reserve/PUP list (physically unable to perform) all season, is not ready to return to practice. Coughlin said he doesn’t know when to expect Koets’s return: “His back is an issue, so he is not ready to start [practicing]. It has been a process that has gone on for quite some time now. It just hasn’t cleared up in about five weeks. You can’t put a number on it because I am not sure when it showed up. It has been a lengthy thing for him.”    

The Giants have up to 21 days before deciding whether to activate any player on the PUP list, terminate his contract or keep him on the reserve/PUP list, effectively ending his season.  

Follow Giants beat writer Tony Williams on Twitter @TBone8.

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Following Monday night’s win over the Bears — a game that was marred by three season-ending injuries — the Giants spent most of their first practice since that game talking about how guys need to step up. The NFL is not a league where teams throw pity parties for others, so the Giants need to get out of the malaise quickly with the cross-town rival Jets on the horizon, Saturday.  

Defensive end Justin Tuck said the bright side is that unknown players have the opportunity to become household names if they successfully fill the voids.   

“It’s football. Obviously it’s unfortunate to happen, but like I always say, guys have to step up,” Tuck said. “New guys have opportunities now and it gives guys more of a chance to showcase their football talents.”   

Tuck, arguably the defense’s preeminent spokesman, said he won’t allow for his team to feel sorry for itself.   

“No need to ask ‘why?’ It won’t bring them back or fill the holes that their absences left. We can’t sit here and pity ourselves because the teams we’re playing this year won’t,” Tuck said. “We’ve got to move forward. Does it hurt? Absolutely but it’s football. Every team has injuries and every team has people that go down. But it’s the teams that bounce back from it and you see in the playoffs that still compete for championships every year.”   

The Giants brought in four cornerbacks for workouts yesterday, including former Eagle Lito Sheppard and veterans Brian Williams and Dre’ Bly. Williams has reportedly signed with the team, but even if the aforementioned may all have some tread left on their tires, the Giants are secretly hoping some of the younger corners can help fill the void.    

Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, who’s doing his own share of void filling, said he’s confident the solution is inside the locker room.     
 
“We came together and prayed about it,” Pierre-Paul said. “But now we just have to move on. The next person just has to step up.”    

Darnell Burks thinks he can help lessen the blow. An undrafted rookie from Fort Valley State, Burks was once considered on the fringe, but may now have a bigger role. He’s coming off a nice performance in the Bears game (three solo tackles) and feels that while he may be a relative unknown, he’s confident he’ll make a name for himself.  

“I came here when Bruce [Johnson] went down and I felt I had a good chance of staying on even before all the injuries happened,” said Burks, who added his style fits what the Giants are looking for in a corner. “I consider myself an aggressive corner who loves to press.”    

Whomever the Giants use to fill in the gaps in the secondary, don’t look for first-round pick Prince Amukamara to come to the rescue anytime soon. Amukamara, who broke his foot in his first official practice following a lengthy holdout, was seen hobbling around in a walking boot following the game. He said it hurt almost as much to see Terrell Thomas go down as it did for himself and is itching for a return.   

“I kind of wanted to cry for him [because] I definitely have that older brother feeling towards him,” Amukamara said. “It definitely just sucks to see any teammate go down, but from what I saw, he’s strong minded and I know he knows everything is going to be alright.”   

Amukamara acknowledged the amount of expectations for him pre-injury. And now that all the defensive backs are dropping like flies it’s only adding to his angst.    

“The expectation bar just feels like it got a little bit higher, a lot higher for me,” he said. “I just need to continue to stay into it mentally [because] they haven’t given me a timetable and there’s no pain. I think they said from the beginning that it’d be from eight to 10 weeks. But who knows? It could be shorter than that, or it could be longer than that. I feel no pain, so I think that’s a good sign.”    

Right now, the Giants could use all the good signs they can get.   

Big Blue notes

» Newly-signed DT Jimmy Kennedy may not be the best player on the roster, but he may be the best quote machine. The nine-year vet had a horde around him as he regaled the media with tales of his days as a youth in Yonkers growing up a Giants fan.  

When the Giants coaches asked him which films they could watch from last year’s stint with the Vikings and see some of his highlights, he bluntly replied, “nothing.” Kennedy then proceeded to break the pro athlete’s unwritten code of never admitting you’re basically stealing money from the team with this gem: “I don’t think I did anything to justify my contract … I understand why Minnesota let me go.”

But as swift as he was to give an honest self-evaluation, Kennedy then quickly boasted he’s the best at what he does: “If you ask me who the best defensive tackle is in the NFL, I’ll tell you Jimmy Kennedy.” Self assurance is the first thing needed for an athlete to have swagger — even if everyone else doesn’t believe it. Good to know Eli Manning is teaching the newcomer well.  

» Justin Tuck said no matter what the name says on the place formerly known as the New Meadowlands Stadium he’s still calling it by one name only: “Giants Stadium. I’m glad MetLife is sponsoring it but to me it’ll always be Giants Stadium.”    

Tuck also said he’s enjoying the cross-town rivalry with the Jets: “The rivalry has been more intense since [Jets head coach] Rex [Ryan] came over but this is still a preseason game … but come that game right before Christmas it might be a different story.”  

Follow Tony Williams on Twitter @TBone8 for updates from Giants camp and coverage of Big Blue all season long.

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Fantasy owners should have the same feelings toward injured guys. Older players off major injuries should be a red flag. Here are three big-name guys not worth gambling on:  

MJD’s knee

Maurice Jones-Drew had meniscus surgery this offseason after doctors diagnosed him with a “bone on bone” condition. Now he’s limited in camp, is coming off two straight seasons of 330-plus touches and is on an offense where he’s the only real weapon. The risk is too great for the first round.  

Cold Colston

Marques Colston underwent microfracture surgery this offseason, the fifth knee surgery of his career. He recently sat out five straight days at Saints camp due to soreness, and it’s questionable if he’ll be able to regain his athleticism. Robert Meachem is ready to step in if Colston can’t do it.

Shaky Gates

Antonio Gates is as tough as they come and the best tight end in the league. He is also still feeling the plantar fasciitis that bothered him last year. No one seems concerned, but the tight end position is so deep. Give me Jason Witten, Jermichael Finley or Vernon Davis a couple rounds later. Gambling on Gates isn’t worth it.

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