Edition: U.S. / Global

Train Derails In Brooklyn, Injuring Scores

Published: June 21, 2000

Eighty-four people were hurt, three of them critically, when a subway train derailed as it pulled out of a station in downtown Brooklyn last night, hurling passengers into one another and against the train's windows, causing many head injuries, the authorities said.

As the southbound B train left the DeKalb Avenue station at 9:57 p.m., the third car of the silver eight-car train slid off the track, pulling the second car with it, said Al O'Leary, a spokesman for New York City Transit. The cars landed upright, but with a noise that passengers said sounded like an explosion.

''It was total chaos,'' said Tanya Acevedo, a passenger who was nursing a golfball-sized knob on her forehead. ''There were people yelling 'Oh my God.' They were crying, they were screaming, they were praying.''

Mr. O'Leary initially said that transit officials were ''not optimistic'' that the mess on the tracks could be cleaned up in time for this morning's commute.

But around 12:45 a.m., officials from the mayor's office said that train service would be restored by morning rush hour. Commuters may call (718) 243-3247 to check service.

The DeKalb Avenue station, served by the D, M, N, Q and R trains, is a main transit crossing point in downtown Brooklyn. To clear the way for other trains, workers must lift three 40-ton cars back onto the track, an operation which takes two hours per car under ideal conditions, Mr. O'Leary said. Damage to the tracks themselves would cause further delay, he said.

The derailment occurred just a few carlengths out of the station, where the track divides, Mr. O'Leary said.

''The first two cars went to the left like they're supposed to,'' he said, ''but the third car went into the dividing wall'' between the left and right tracks.

The derailment's cause was not immediately clear.

The accident was at least the fourth such incident at the DeKalb Avenue station since 1985, and at least the second on the same stretch of track.

The B train was traveling on tracks normally used by the D train because there was a work train blocking the B's tracks, transit officials said. In 1996, a southbound D train jumped the same track during the morning rush hour.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said that 10 people were taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center or to Bellevue Hospital Center. One critically injured passenger had suffered a heart attack, he said, possibly caused in part by the 100-degree heat in the subway tunnel.

''People got shook up pretty badly,'' Mr. Giuliani said at the scene. ''Heads were injured and they bounced back and forth.''

Marina Gerkerova, 22, a school counselor from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said the train started to jerk as it pulled out of the station. Then there was a huge noise.

''The train was off the track,'' she said. ''I saw us next to an N train and I thought we crashed into it.''

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion , she said.

''There were several people screaming,'' she said. ''A couple of people were bleeding badly from their faces. When it happened I saw smoke. The woman next to me grabbed my hand and we went flying into the window.''

The woman looked over at her. ''There was blood coming down her face because she smashed in the window and broke it,'' Ms. Gerkerova said.

Outside the station, at Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues, the scene was one of controlled chaos last night, with dozens of emergency vehicles swarming around the normally busy intersection and about 30 passengers waiting on a triage line as the police barked orders at them.

Outside the station, emergency medical technicians commandeered a city bus and turned it into a makeshift clinic, tying slings around injured arms, wrapping knees in bandages, and applying ice packs. The bus's direction indicator read ''Not in service.'' At 12:05 a.m., the bus carried 24 subway passengers the five blocks from the DeKalb station to Brooklyn Hospital Center.

Ursula Janses, 61, a passenger, told The Associated Press, ''We were just riding along and all of a sudden, the brake went on and we all fell to the floor.''

Marsha Charles, who was on her way home after work, said it felt like someone had pulled the emergency brake. Passengers fell to the floor and skidded toward the front of their cars.

She said the conductor spoke over the loudspeaker, telling passengers he had been injured, and to wait where they were for paramedics to arrive. Those on the train remained calm, even though the lights went out and the car doors had opened, Ms. Charles said.

''We just waited,'' she said.

Ms. Acevedo said that as the train pulled out of the station, she was having a conversation with a friend about the band New Kids on the Block. Seconds later the train jerked once, then again, the second time with enough force to throw her headfirst into a fellow passenger. She looked up to see the floor of the car carpeted with people.

Susie Lee, a receptionist at a Manhattan hair salon, said: ''It looked like someone picked up the train and shook it. ''Bags went flying. People's eyeglasses slid off their faces.''

Firefighter Steve Murphy, of Engine Company 204 in Brooklyn, was one of the first to reach the sweltering car. He rescued two of the more seriously injured people. He carried one woman with a serious cut on her head off the train. ''There was blood everywhere,'' he said.

Map of Brooklyn shows location of train derailment: People were hurled about as a B trian slid off the tracks. (pg. B3)