The children killed by an Amtrak train on Saturday were Chester residents, ages 9 and 12

Several children had gathered in the area where the accident occurred, police said.

Amtrak personnel help passengers board a new train Saturday after their original train, headed from New York to Washington, struck and killed two Chester children, ages 9 and 12.Read moreJonathan Newton / The Washington Post

Published May 1, 2023, 4:08 p.m. ET

The two children who were struck and killed by an Amtrak train during the weekend were Chester residents, ages 9 and 12, and were part of a group of several young people who had gathered near the scene of the fatal incident, Chester police said Monday.

Chester Police Capt. El’lan Morgan said it was unclear precisely how many young people were at the site, near Engle Street in the City’s West End, when the accident occurred about at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. “We’re waiting for video from Amtrak,” she said.

The victims have been identified, but their names aren’t being released “because they are juveniles,” a Delaware County spokesperson said.

Officials have been chary with details of the incident. “We’re still investigating,” Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland said Sunday night.

According to an Amtrak spokesperson, the victims had been “trespassing” on the tracks when they were struck by southbound Train 161, which had originated in New York and was headed to Washington.

Kirkland said he had spoken with the victims’ family members, who were “devastated.”

City Council member Stefan Roots, who is running against Kirkland in the mayoral primary, said in his “Chester Matters” blog that the incident “has brought great sorrow to the entire city.” He said that he, Kirkland, and council member Will Morgan went to the site after the accident occurred. “We were all left speechless.”

Amtrak said that no injuries to the train’s 368 passengers or crew were reported.

The accident delayed eight trains, Amtrak said, and Train 161 remained stalled at the site of the crash for over four hours.

Amtrak said in its statement that incidents such as Saturday’s “serve as critical reminders about the importance of obeying the law and of exercising extreme caution around railroad tracks and crossings.”