8 cars and 2 locomotives of Southwest Chief Train 4, going from Los Angeles to Chicago, derailed on June 27 at 12:42 PM CT after colliding with a truck that was blocking a public crossing close to Mendon, Missouri. There were 12 staff members and about 275 passengers on board. 

"All of a sudden the car that we were on was over and everyone was flying everywhere. Seats were coming apart. Bags were going everywhere. And then, after it stopped, you could smell the fumes and so people started panicking, thinking it was going to catch fire so we tried to get out as quick as possible," said Amtrak passenger Jason Drinkard, recalling the crash.

A farmer in northern Missouri shared a video of the railroad crossing, calling it dangerous and saying that his requests to have the road built up or the brush cut back had been ignored --  nearly two weeks earlier on Facebook.