WASHINGTON - Tianna Cox, 21, says the gravity of Tuesday’s Metro disaster, the deadliest in Metrorail’s 33-year history, is still sinking in.

"I feel a lot better than I did yesterday,” she said. “I feel extremely blessed to even be here."

Cox was a passenger in the train that had stopped to wait for another train which was off-loading passengers at the Ft. Totten station.

"We just got hit and everybody jumped up, people were crying and wondering what happened,” she recalled. “Everybody was coming out of their seats to make sure everyone else was OK."

Cox was in the last car of her train, the car struck by a second train that failed to stop for an unknown reason. Nine people died; more than 70 were injured.

The striking train landed on top of where Cox was sitting.

"To look out and see a train sitting on top of your car -- you can't imagine anything like that," she said.

Maya Manoto, 31, was a passenger in the train that didn't stop. She was in the second car, one car behind the one that collapsed to just one-fourth its size.

"The car filled up with smoke we had no idea what happened,” she said. “They started prying the doors open -- someone stuck their head out -- we could see that front of our car was just standing straight up."

In the neighborhoods surrounding the crash, residents said it sounded like a bomb. Mark Barnes ran two blocks and saw the chaos below.

"People were banging on the windows, people were just looking stunned, trying to get into the cars," he said. "I'm sorry for all of those who lost their lives. I think it's very very sad for people who are badly injured and who have been killed. I just feel very lucky."

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