Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine and two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, says he is lucky to be safe after he was on an Amtrak train that collided with a backhoe and derailed near Philadelphia Sunday, killing at least two people on board.

Speaking with 麻豆影视 Channel hours after the crash, Forbes described the serious damage to the first two cars and confusion that ensued after the 鈥渆xplosion.鈥�

鈥淲ell you could see that there鈥檚 been a fire, some of the windows had popped out, there was black around the windows,鈥� Forbes said. 鈥淭here were several people who looked to be badly hurt.鈥�

Authorities say the Amtrak train smashed into a piece of construction equipment on the tracks south of Philadelphia, causing the train鈥檚 front engine to derail.

About 300 passengers and 7 crew members were on board, and at least 30 passengers were brought to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.

Forbes often takes the train to Washington and was surprised when it suddenly lurched to a halt around 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

鈥淲ell we were in the last car, the passenger car of the train, and suddenly heard an explosion,鈥� he said.

鈥淥bviously people鈥檚 coffee and everything was flying in the air, so we knew something had gone badly wrong. This is not the normal slowdown you get coming to a curve.鈥�

He said that passengers remained on the tracks for at least 25 minutes with no word from authorities as to what had gone wrong.

鈥淭he PA system was out, the electricity was out, and we figured they must be doing something in the front cars, because we heard nothing for about a half hour. Then one of the train crew came back and explained that there had been an accident, they had hit a backhoe on the track,鈥� he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, and Federal Railroad Administration officials were dispatched to the scene.

It wasn鈥檛 until passengers were allowed off the train that Forbes says he noticed the extent of the damage.

鈥淲e then got off the train finally and we could see the damage, especially to the first two cars of the train. But fortunately in our car no one was hurt,鈥� he said.

Forbes said that passengers were then led away from the train and to a nearby church gymnasium. A bus later arrived to shuttle passengers back to Philadelphia.

Forbes said the route is 鈥渦sually a smooth ride鈥� and better than taking a plane because 鈥測ou also get some work done in a relaxed atmosphere.鈥�

He added the incident won鈥檛 deter him from taking the train in the future.

Forbes ran for president twice, in 1996 and 2000, but later dropped out of the races to return to the publishing industry.

A similar incident occurred last May when an Amtrak train headed to New York derailed in Philadelphia, killing eight people and injuring more than 200.

The cause of that crash is still under investigation.

With files from the Associated Press