After a 37-hour delay on Monday night, passengers on an Amtrak train started to panic and many of them dialed 911 under the impression that they were being held, hostage.

On Monday at 5:00 pm, the Auto Train left Virginia with 563 people and 333 vehicles. It was scheduled to touch down in Orlando, Florida, at 10 a.m. the following day. The train was forced to reroute, however, after a CSX freight train in South Carolina collided with a vehicle left on the tracks, creating a delay of more than 20 hours.

In accordance with policy, the initial crew was not permitted to continue operating the longer-than-expected trip, therefore the train was detoured to Denmark, South Carolina, where it had to wait for a replacement crew to arrive. The train had to wait for several hours since a substitute crew was not immediately available.

The passengers started dialing 911 after the train became stranded in the South Carolina countryside’s woods, despite the transportation company’s insistence that it provides updates on the situation.

A conductor addressed the passengers over the loudspeaker and requested that they refrain from calling the police after hearing accounts of the 911 calls.

The conductor continued, sounding annoyed, “For those of you calling the police, we are not keeping you hostage. “We are providing you with all the information we can. Regarding the inconvenience, we apologize.

BREAKING: A travel nightmare is unfolding right now on Amtrak. Passengers on the Auto Train have been stuck on board for 29+ hours, currently sitting in the woods in rural South Carolina. Passengers called the local police saying they’re being held hostage.
LISTEN: pic.twitter.com/Jog4PHYT7G

— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) January 11, 2023

The conductor said, “We will let you know promptly as soon as new information is available.”

“The train was detoured off its normal route in order to continue operating south,” reported Amtrak. “We have been providing regular updates to customers, along with meals, snack packs, and beverages. The onboard staff is working with pet owners to provide bathroom breaks.”

Colleen McKenna, a train passenger, spoke with Fox News about her experience. We were halted in North Carolina when she awoke at around six in the morning on Tuesday, she claimed, adding, “I spoke with one of my attendants and he just told me that there was a derailment of a train in front of us, so we’re going to have to take a detour.”

According to McKenna, the crew was unable to give the passengers an ETA because they were unsure of what was happening. She added that they stopped for an additional six hours after the train finally entered South Carolina.

McKenna found the “hostage” announcement amusing, but she could see why other passengers could have been alarmed given that they were unable to exit the train. McKenna claims that despite being imprisoned inside the train, she “didn’t feel unsafe.”

On Wednesday morning, the train reached its destination without incident.