New video shows unseen footage from Metro crash

WASHINGTON - Three months after the deadliest accident in Metro's history, never-before-seen video and still photographs from the scene are being released.

The images are part of a 12-minute video documentary produced by the D.C. Fire and EMS Department.

The video includes first-hand accounts from some of the firefighters who were first on the scene on June 22, 2009.

Lt. Tony Carroll of Rescue Squad 2 recalls what he saw when he arrived.

"As we made our way down the track bed there were people coming out," Carroll says.

"It was kind of surreal almost. Because there wasn't any screaming. There wasn't any crying, wasn't people running away. They were just kind of walking."

The footage includes up close images of first responders extracting victims from the wreckage and treating the wounded along the side of the tracks.

The video was shot by D.C. Firefighter Vito Maggiolo.

Maggiolo and other fire department officials routinely photograph first responders at various incidents and share the footage with news organizations.

D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Pete Piringer says much of this footage had been withheld due to privacy concerns for the victims.

Many of the faces in the video have been pixilated to obscure the victims' identity.

Piringer says the video cost about $3,000 to produce and will be shown to community groups as well as part of training sessions. The documentary blends footage of news reports, interviews with first responders as well as footage shot at a prayer service for the victims.

The documentary ends with images and the names of the nine victims who died in the crash.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)