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[h=4]8th body found in wreckage of derailed Amtrak train[/h]The lawyer for the train engineer in charge of the Amtrak train that derailed killing seven people says his client suffered a concussion in the accident and cannot remember what happened when
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While Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian has submitted a blood sample to investigators, he hasn't yet been formally interviewed by them. At least seven people were killed when the train derailed in Philadelphia. VPC
Investigators work near the wreckage of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 that derailed Tuesday night in Philadelphia.(Photo: Win McNamee, Getty Images)
Recovery teams searching the wreckage at the site of an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia found an 8th body Thursday in the twisted wreckage of a passenger car, Philadelphia fire commissioner Derrick Sawyer said.
The commissioner told reporters that cadaver dogs were recalled to the area early Thursday to do one more search of the crash site.
He said the dogs were directed to the front passenger car, which was especially twisted and badly damaged, and indicated that a body was inside. He said the teams used hydraulic tools to reach the victim.
Even before the discovery of the latest fatality, the crash was already the deadliest U.S. train accident in nearly seven years.
The Amtrak train en route to New York City from Washington, D.C., jumped the track Tuesday evening on a curve north of Philadelphia. More than 200 people were injured.
Philadelphia Michael Nutter reported Thursday that all 243 people who were believed to be on the train at the time have been accounted for.
The train was traveling at 106 mph shortly before the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board confirmed Wednesday.
Robert Sumwalt, NTSB board member, said that the emergency brakes slowed the train down to 102 mph before the accident. That speed was twice the limit for the section of track north of Philadelphia where the accident occurred.
The lawyer for the train engineer in charge of the Amtrak train says his client suffered a concussion in the accident and cannot remember what happened when the train jumped the tracks.
"He remembers coming into the curve. He remembers attempting to reduce speed and thereafter, he was knocked out," attorney Robert Goggin, representing engineer Brandon Bostian, told ABC's Nightline on Wednesday.
Bostian, he said, "has absolutely no recollection of the incident or anything unusual" and "no explanation" for the crash. He only recalls getting thrown around, coming to, finding his bag and his cellphone, and dialing 911, Goggin said.
The lawyer said the 32-year-old Bostian, from Queens, N.Y., was "very distraught" to learn of the loss of life in the accident.
The lawyer said his client is cooperating with authorities and has turned over a blood sample. He also said Bostian told him he had no significant health issues before the crash and was not on any medications.
Brandon Bostian's profile on LinkedIn says he has worked for Amtrak for 10 years.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: LinkedIn.com)
According to his LinkedIn profile, Bostian has worked at Amtrak since 2006, first as a passenger conductor for four years and an engineer for almost five years.
Mayor Nutter, reacting to word of the train's speed, said, "That's just insanity.''
Nutter said he nevertheless didn't want to prejudge. "We know what happened. We don't know why."
The train's speed was captured on the recovered "black box" that records data on the operation of the train.
One safety measure that might have prevented the accident was not in operation along the stretch of track. The system is called the positive train control (PTC), which, according to Amtrak, is designed to prevent the collision of two trains, derailments caused by excessive speed and some human errors such as misaligned tracks during switching.
The system, which Amtrak in 2012 called "the most important rail safety advancement of our time" is mandated for all U.S. commuter lines by the end of the year, but had not been installed in the fatal section of the Philadelphia track.
"Had such a system been installed in this section of track, this accident would not have occurred," said Sumwalt.
Among the dead:
•Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old Associated Press video software architect, the news agency said. Gaines had attended meetings in Washington and was returning home to Plainsboro, N.J.His death was confirmed by his wife, Jacqueline.
•U.S. Naval Academy midshipman, Justin Zemser, 21, of Queens, N.Y., his mother told NBC4 New York. The school, which declined to release the name until all of his relatives were notified, did say that the victim was on leave and on his way home.
•Abid Gilani, a Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo, according to a company spokesperson in New York.
•Rachel Jacobs, the chief executive of a small tech company in Philadelphia, her family said Wednesday. She was the CEO of an online education consulting firm ApprenNet and commuted from her home in New York City to her work in Philadelphia. She leaves behind her husband and 2-year-old son.
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