South Carolina governor Henry McMaster said the Amrak train appeared to be riding on the wrong track before it collided with a freight train.
ADVERTISEMENTAn Amtrak passenger train which derailed killing two people and injuring at least 116 more was travelling on the wrong track when it crashed into a parked freight train.
The accident happened in the early hours of Sunday in South Carolina as the train carrying one hundred and thirty nine passengers and eight crew was travelling to Miami from New York. The two dead were crew members.
South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, said the two trains were not supposed to meet at the crash point.
"That may be a time factor, but that's what it appears to me," he said. "But I defer to those who are experts and do have the correct information. And It appears that Amtrak was on the wrong track."
Officials said around 5,000 gallons of fuel leaked as a result of the collision, but it was under control and no threat to public safety.
When asked about the injuries suffered by the victims, Lexington County spokesman Harrison Cahill told reporters: "We have anywhere from scratches and bumps to more severe broken bones."
It is the second major crash involving an Amtrak train in less than a week. On Wednesday, a train carrying Republican lawmakers to a retreat slammed into a rubbish truck in rural Virginia, killing its driver.