New Jersey train crash: Investigators recover black box from debris

One of the black box recorders from the rear of a train that crashed into the terminal building at Hoboken in New Jersey last week has been recovered.

Fabiola Bittar de Kroon, a 34-year-old mother, was named as the sole fatality of the crash which left 114 people injured.

A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said investigators had been unable to retrieve the recorder from the train’s front car due to debris, which holds information on the train’s speed and use of brakes, according to NBC news.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the train entered the station at Hoboken "at a high rate of speed" and "crashed through the barriers, bringing it into the interior wall" of the terminal.

Experts said it was miraculous more people were not killed given the train was carrying 250 passengers and the first carriage flew into the air before slamming into the interior wall of the terminal, collapsing portions of the roof.

The train’s engineer, Thomas Gallagher, was pulled from the wrecked first carriage and was later released from hospital. His father told NBC news he has been with New Jersey Transit for 29 years.

The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation, and is expected to take up to ten days to complete.