A Metro-North commuter train collided with an SUV Tuesday night, resulting in six fatalities and leaving several others injured.

Metro-North Train Crash

About 20 miles north of the city in a suburb of Valhalla, the packed commuter train hit an SUV that was sitting on the tracks. According to reports, a woman was driving an SUV that got stuck beneath a railroad crossing gate. At one point, she exited the vehicle in an attempt to assess the damage. In an effort to extricate the car from under the gate, she got back behind the wheel. Unfortunately, the woman was unable to move the car and was thought to have still been inside of it when the train hit.

Upon making contact with the SUV, the train pushed the vehicle more than 100 yards before coming to a stop. The accident caused the third rail, which provides the train with electricity, to puncture the train car. A combination of an electrical spark from the third rail and the car’s gasoline likely caused the fiery blast, Retired NTSB investigator Russell Quimby told The Journal News.

The crash Tuesday was the deadliest that’s ever occurred on the Metro-North line. Federal investigators have arrived in the New York suburb to find out more information about the tragic incident.

“We’ve got several busy days ahead of us,” NTSB board member Robert Sumwalt told reporters Wednesday. “We intend to find out not only what happened but why.”

“They are out looking at the first car, walking it,” he said. “We will be documenting the wreckage. We have already asked for aerial footage. The people who operate the train have been through a lot of trauma. We have to wait until they are in a condition when they can talk to us.”

Sumwalt added, “At the end of this process we will know everything we need to know.”