Eli Skrypczak played on his phone Monday afternoon as he boarded an Amtrak train passing through the heart of Missouri. As he came in and out of sleep, the 15-year-old Scout and hundreds of other passengers were unaware of the dump truck in front that was going to change their lives forever. Eli and 14 other scouts had spent 10 days exploring New Mexico origins, mostly backpacking in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and heading for their home in Appleton, Wis., Said Dan Skrypczak, Eli’s father and head of Appleton. Army 73. Each of the Scouts was derailed in their own way, Skrypczak told the Washington Post late Tuesday. Some had used an app on their phone to determine that the train was doing about 90 mph, which impressed them. Some ate in the dining room. Others watched the landscape from an observation car equipped with floor-to-ceiling windows. One happened to be in the bathroom. At 12:43 p.m., “a giant jolt” woke up Eli, who was in his place. It was heard twisting metal and loud squeaking. It smelled like diesel. His train car overturned to the side, causing Eli to fall on fellow Scouts sitting in the aisle on the side of the train that had become the new floor. Dan Skrypczak, 46, who was not on the train, said his son told him “people started panicking”. The Amtrak train had hit the dump truck near Menton, derailing two locomotives and almost every train car, The Post reported. Heading from Los Angeles to Chicago along the Amtrak Southwest Chief line, the train carried 275 passengers and 12 crew members, according to Amtrak. At least four people were killed and more than 100 were injured, The Post reported. On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Council said it had sent a 16-member team to investigate. An Amtrak train crossing the country derailed in Missouri on June 27 after colliding with a dump truck, resulting in many casualties. (Video: Rob Nightingale via Storyful) At least 3 dead from Amtrak train derailment in Missouri The clash caused some Wisconsin Scouts to lose their phones, AirPods and even their shoes, Skrypczak said. Eli and the others gathered their minds, took care of everyone and started helping people. “The adrenaline rushed in and something dominated and I knew what to do,” Eli told WITI. “It was unreal. It still doesn’t seem real to me. “ First, Scouts secured passengers who appeared to have spinal cord injuries, his father told The Post. Then they started coming out of the emergency windows of the train car. When some people got stuck, the Scouts took off their shirts for protection and broke the glass. They evacuated those who could. “They took people out of the windows and took them down,” Eli told the Milwaukee-based television station. “I had to hold two children in my arms, two at a time.” After that, Eli ran to the front of the train to see if anyone was injured, his father told The Post. He learned that the train had hit a vehicle when it 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 that just hit the train, which authorities have not identified. Wounded – bad. He was bleeding and, although he was breathing, the man was purring. Eli gave him some water and tried to stop the bleeding. He told the driver that help was on the way. She held his hand. Soon, a local farmer joined Eli as they cared for the dying man. “They were trying to comfort him,” Skrypczak said. Eli and the farmer continued their efforts until the emergency crews arrived, which probably lasted a few minutes, but “looked like a lifetime,” Skrypczak said. After initially participating in the rescue efforts, the first to respond told Eli and the farmer that it was time to “call” him and “take care of the living.” “And that’s what Eli and the boys did,” Skrypczak said. Eli jumped into battle. Since the crash, Skrypczak said, he has been receiving messages from others at the point where they remember Eli as the child who pinned between fire trucks and the crash site to supply paramedics. Based on what others told him, Skrypczak estimated that his son made 100 trips. “As a dad and as a detective, I’m incredibly proud,” Skrypczak said. But Eli was just one of the Scouts who helped, he added. Some provided first aid to their own detectors who had been seriously injured. Others carried passengers on board at the scene of the crash in ambulances. When rescuers prevented them from doing this for the most seriously injured patients, the Scouts removed parts of the train carriage that could prevent rescuers from pulling people out of the wreckage. “I teach emergency preparedness and first aid and I do not know I would have thought of that,” Skrypczak said. “It simply came to our notice then. [I’m] so very proud of them. “Surely they lived the oath of the Scouts.” Eventually, the emergency crews ordered the Scouts to go to the medical staff for evaluation. They all ended up in hospital, although no one was seriously injured. Most people experience pain and bruising. Some may have a whip and a cracked rib or two. “But nothing serious,” Skrypczak said. “Some of these guys definitely got worse in sports.” All the Scouts returned home to Wisconsin late Tuesday, Skrypczak said. Eli and his fellow Scouts have solid support networks at home and at school. Their parents are already making sure they get the advice they need to deal with Monday’s derailment. As soon as the adrenaline ran out, Eli was upset, his father said, adding that he believed his son was experiencing the survivor’s first guilt. Until Tuesday, it looked good, although Skrypczak knows first hand that his son will have to deal with what happened in the years to come. “Eli is upset that he could not do more. I keep telling him that he did what he could. The patrol of the state highway told him the same. “There was nothing he could do to save him,” Skrypczak told Today. Like his son, Skrypczak found himself under pressure for sudden rescue efforts, which did not all have a happy ending, he told The Post. He knows, then, that this is not something you discard in a few days. Trying to help someone with all your might just to have that person die in front of you – “is catastrophic”.
