and one of them was stationary when the crash happened , said John Catoe , Metro general manager . Watch woman say she , fellow passengers `` went flying '' '' Video footage of the scene showed two cars of one train lying atop the cars of the other train . Emergency personnel carried injured passengers , some on stretchers , from the wreckage . Watch injured passengers limp from the scene '' `` Metro officials do not know the cause of the collision and are not likely to know the cause for several days as the investigation unfolds , '' a Metro statement said . Fire department personnel cut through the trains to help people from the wreckage , officials said at a press briefing . Some three hours after the accident , fire department sources said rescue operations had ceased , with ongoing work focusing on recovery . See pictures of crash site '' President Obama issued a statement saying he and his wife Michelle were `` saddened by the terrible accident , '' and thanking the first responders to the scene `` who arrived immediately to save lives . '' A survivor , Jodie Wickett , described
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A rush-hour collision Monday between two Metro trains north of downtown Washington , D.C . , killed at least six people and injured scores , Mayor Adrian Fenty said . One train was stationary when the crash happened , according to Metro General Manager John Catoe . He called it the deadliest crash in the history of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , known as Metro . One of the dead was the female operator of one of the trains , Metro officials said . `` The scene is as horrific as you can imagine , '' Fenty said in a news conference . `` One car was almost squeezed completely together . '' Seventy-six people were treated for injuries , including two with life-threatening injuries , said Chief Dennis Rubin of Washington 's Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department . Two of the injured were emergency responders , Rubin said . See location of crash '' The crash happened just before 5 p.m. on an above-ground track on the Red Line in the District of Columbia near the border with Takoma Park , Maryland . Both trains were on the same track ,