the Washington Post did a great story on the Boy Scouts in last weeks Amtrack crash in Missouri

Heading from Los Angeles to Chicago along Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line, the train was carrying 275 passengers and 12 crew members, when it hit a dump truck at a road crossing near Mendon, derailing two locomotives and nearly every train car. 

the Boy Scouts had spent 10 days exploring the backcountry of New Mexico, mostly by backpacking through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and were on their way home to Appleton, Wis.

The collision caused some of the Scouts from Wisconsin to lose their phones, AirPods and even their shoes, Skrypczak said. Eli and the others collected their wits, made sure they were all accounted for and started helping people.

First, the Scouts secured passengers who seemed like they might have spinal cord injuries, his father told The Post. Then, they started popping out the train car’s emergency windows. When some became stuck, the Scouts used their shirts for protection and broke the glass. They evacuated everyone they could.

After that, Eli ran to the front of the train to see if anyone was injured, his father told The Post. He learned the train had hit a vehicle when he saw wheels or an axle near the tracks. Then, in a ditch, he spotted a man who turned out to be the driver of the dump truck the train had just hit, whom authorities identified as Billy Barton II, 54, of Brookfield, Mo.

He was hurt — badly. He was bleeding and, although he was breathing, the man was gurgling. Eli gave him some water and tried to stop the bleeding. He told the driver that help was on the way. He held his hand. Soon, a local farmer joined Eli as they tended to the dying man.

Eli and the farmer kept up their efforts until emergency crews arrived, something that probably took minutes but “seemed like a lifetime,” Skrypczak said. The first responders eventually told Eli and the farmer it was time to “call it” and “attend to the living.”

“And that’s what Eli and the boys did,” Skrypczak said. Eli jumped into the fray. Since the crash, Skrypczak said, he’s been getting messages from others at the scene who remembered Eli as the kid pinballing between firetrucks and the crash site to resupply paramedics. Based on what others have told him, Skrypczak estimated his son made 100 trips.

“As a dad and a scoutmaster, I’m unbelievably proud,” Skrypczak said.

But Eli was just one of the Scouts helping, he added. Some performed first aid on their own scoutmasters who had been seriously injured. Others hauled passengers on backboards from the crash site to ambulances. When paramedics stopped them from doing that for the more seriously injured patients, the Scouts stripped out parts of the train car that might block rescue workers from getting people out of the wreckage.

Eventually, emergency crews ordered the Scouts to go to medical staffers for assessment. All of them ended up going to the hospital, although none were seriously injured. Most are dealing with soreness and bruising. Some might have whiplash and a cracked rib or two. “But nothing serious,” Skrypczak said. “Some of these kids have certainly had worse on the athletic field.”

   

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/29/boy-scout-amtrak-train-derailment/