(Bloomberg) -- The New York-bound Amtrak train thatderailed in Philadelphia, killing seven and injuring more than 200,was traveling at about 100 miles per hour, twice the speed limit,according to an official briefed on the data.

The speed limit on the curve where the accident happened Tuesdaynight was 50 miles (31 kilometers) per hour, said the official, whoasked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.The traincarried 238 passengers.

Mayor Michael Nutter said it was “incredible” that so manypeople walked away from the accident.

Northeast Regional Train 188, which originated inWashington, went off the tracks about 9:30 p.m., closing part ofthe busiest passenger-rail corridor in the U.S.

A data recorder is being analyzed at an Amtrak facility inDelaware, Nutter said. That should tell investigators the train’sspeed and how the throttle, brakes, horn and bells were applied,said Robert Sumwalt, a National Transportation Safety Board member.The locomotive had a forward-facing camera and its footage will bereviewed.

Sumwalt said NTSB investigators started arriving before 5 a.m.at the scene where an engine and seven cars careened off thetracks. Three rested on their sides and one almost on its roof. Onewas perpendicular to the others. About 9 a.m., police guided acrane through a barricade toward the derailment.

The wreck turned a Philadelphia neighborhood into a search-and-rescue zone, illuminated by flashlights and spotlights asworkers pulled the injured from cars and tried to determine whetherothers remained trapped. Bloodied passengers hobbled from thewreckage.

Midshipman Killed

“Along the Northeast Corridor, Amtrak is a way of life formany,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “FromWashington, D.C. and Philadelphia to New York City and Boston, thisis a tragedy that touches us all.”

One of the passengers killed was identified by the U.S. NavalAcademy in Annapolis, Maryland, as a midshipman on leave and headedhome. The victim was confirmed as Justin Zemser by his father,Howard, of Rockaway Beach, New York. The family will release astatement later, Howard Zemser said by telephone.

An Associated Press video software architect also was killed.Jim Gaines, a 48-year-old father of two, had attended meetings inWashington and was returning home to Plainsboro, New Jersey. Hisdeath was confirmed by his wife, Jacqueline.

Amtrak service between New York and Philadelphia is suspended,sending business travelers and commuters searching for other waysto traverse the East Coast.

Modified service will be provided between Washington andPhiladelphia, Harrisburg and Philadelphia, and New York and Boston,according to an Amtrak statement. New Jersey Transit will honorAmtrak tickets between New York City and Trenton.

Amtrak’s accident rate has been inching higher, with 67 in 2014,up from 58 in 2013 and 57 in 2012, according to the FederalRailroad Administration

There were nine derailments in the first two months of this yearalone, though none was fatal, according to the agency. Amtraklogged 28 derailments nationwide in 2014, up from 25 in 2013.

Tuesday’s accident was far from Amtrak’s deadliest. In 1993, 47people died and 103 were injured as rail cars careened off a bridgeand into water near Mobile, Alabama.

The mishap in Philadelphia’s Frankford neighborhood is in anarea filled with industrial warehouses, auto mechanics and bodyshops. A 1943 derailment of the Congressional Limited train,which killed 79, occurred nearby.

Right Angle

Mortimer Downey, a transportation consultant who has been deputyU.S. transportation secretary and an Amtrak board member, saidinvestigators would examine the track’s configuration and conditionclosely. He described the curve near the accident sites as “verysharp.”

“You hit that curve and it’s literally a right angle,” hesaid.

Amtrak sets lower speed limits on curves, he said, andlocomotives on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Bostonare equipped with a speed-control system.

U.S. regulators have pushed railroads to install so-calledpositive train control systems that automatically controlvelocity and can stop trains before they crash.

On Tuesday, Michelle Premaza, 33, who lives a quarter-mile away,said she was in her house when she saw and heard the crash.

“I seen a big flash and heard rolling thunder,” Premaza said.“It was crazy.”

Victims were taken to several hospitals. Temple UniversityHospital treated 54 patients, including one who died, according toa statement from Herbert Cushing, the chief medical officer.Twenty-five patients are still at the hospital, including eight incritical condition, according to spokesman Jeremy Walter.

Hahnemann University Hospital admitted seven patients, one inserious condition, said Gianna DeMedio, a spokeswoman. Theysuffered varying levels of injuries, mostly burns andfractures.

Two patients were in critical-but-stable condition at PennPresbyterian Medical Center, according to spokesman SteveGraff.

Ten remained at Aria Health’s Torresdale campus, a traumacenter, spokeswoman Maria Cerceo Slade said. One patient is incritical condition at Albert Einstein Hospital and three in faircondition, according to spokesman Kerry O’Connor.

The event that injured them was sudden and violent.

Beth Davidz, of Brooklyn, New York, said she was in the thirdcar. She said it felt like the train was making a wideturn before it turned on its side and slid for yards. Davidz, 35,said she felt herself falling.

“I knew I was alive because I felt dirt in my mouth,” shesaid.

People used mobile phones to light their way out and climbedonto seats to exit through the windows, Davidz said.

“I came out of it with one shoe and my phone, and I feel lucky,”she said.

--With assistance from David Lerman, Romaine Bostick and JeffPlungis in Washington and Michelle Kaske in New York.

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