The number one song “See You Again” from the blockbuster film “Furious 7” has touched the hearts of millions of listeners and moviegoers worldwide. But for Chester County native Bill Cerullo, the haunting words and melody are especially personal because the song is about his son Vail.

“The last four and a half weeks have been emotionally draining but also very energizing,”Cerullo said.

Vail Cerullo grew up in Elverson, Pennsylvania. He became friends with singer-songwriter Charlie Puth when they attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston together. Then tragedy struck in June of 2012 when Vail was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was only 20-years-old.

During the funeral service at Vail’s Alma Mater the Hill School in Pottstown, Puth made a promise to his friend’s father.

“Someday Mr. Cerullo I’m going to write a song for Vail,” Puth said.

A few years later, Puth got the chance to do just that when he was hired to write "See You Again," the theme song for “Furious 7" which in addition to being inspired by Vail also pays tribute to the late actor Paul Walker. The hit song by hip hop star Wiz Khalifa which features vocals and piano by Puth became an international success, reaching number one on the Billboard in 94 countries.

Cerullo told NBC10 the second verse of the song is what touched him the most.

“He talks about all the memories that will lead him home,” Cerullo said.

Cerullo says the song “Home’ by Michael Buble was his son’s favorite. It was also the song Puth sang at his funeral.

“There’s no doubt that he put the word “home” in that song because of that,” Cerullo said.

Cerullo still has the text that Puth sent him after the song was released.

“My gift to you Bill Dawg,” Puth wrote. “We are celebrating Vail every day. He is the reason this is happening.”

A woman was found dead inside a Bensalem motel Tuesday.

Police say the body of 32-year-old Kristin Neal of Morrisville was discovered inside the Knights Inn Motel on 2707 Lincoln Highway.

While officials have not yet determined a cause of death, police say they are treating it as a homicide.

This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.

Firefighters are at the scene of a strip mall fire in Chester County.

The two-alarm blaze started around 5 p.m. Tuesday at a strip mall on 132 Wallace Avenue in Downingtown. Several stores were evacuated though no injuries have been reported so far.

Stay with NBC10.com for more details on this developing story.
 

Firefighters are battling a fire at a historic tavern in Lower Macungie Township.

The two-alarm fire started at the Buckeye Tavern on the 3700 block of Brookside Road Tuesday night. The Morning Call reports all patrons inside were evacuated.

The Buckeye Tavern is a local landmark that opened in 1735 as an inn and hotel.

This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.

UPDATE: For the latest on the investigation into the deadly wreck, click here. NOTE: Those trying to contact passengers on the train should call the Amtrak Hotline at 1-800-523-9101.

At least seven people were killed and over 200 people hurt after an Amtrak train, carrying 238 passengers and five crew members, derailed and rolled onto its side in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia Tuesday night, according to officials.

Police said Wednesday that seven people had died, after the death toll had risen to six earlier when Temple University Hospital officials confirmed one patient had died of their injuries overnight.

All seven cars of Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188 derailed and came off the tracks near Frankford Junction on the 2000 block of Wheatsheaf Lane shortly after 9 p.m., officials said. The train was heading to New York from Washington, D.C., and had six passenger cars as well as an engine.

"All of a sudden it felt like the brakes were hit hard and then our car," said Michael Black, one of the passengers. "We were third from the last, just slowly started going over to the side. I tried to just brace my arm against it and then just got off."

Daniel Hernandez, who lives close to the tracks, heard the derailment.

"It sounded like a bunch of shopping carts crashing into each other," he said.

Hernandez says the crashing sound lasted a few seconds and he heard chaos and screaming.

Mayor Michael Nutter confirmed at least five people were killed in the derailment during a news conference late Tuesday.

"This was an absolute disastrous mess," Nutter said. "I have never seen anything like it in my life. Many of these folks are not from Philadelphia."

Nutter, who said the incident was a "Level 3 mass casualty event," did not speak on a possible cause.

"We do not know what happened here," he said. "We're not going to try to speculate about that."

Governor Tom Wolf arrived at the scene and spoke with Mayor Nutter during another press conference shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday. Wolf said his thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the crash and all those affected.

Officials have not yet revealed the identity of the deceased victims.

"I've never seen anything so devastating," said Philadelphia Fire Department Deputy Commissioner Jesse Wilson. "They're in pretty bad shape. You can see that they're completely, completely derailed from the track. They've been destroyed completely. The aluminum shell has been destroyed and they've been overturned completely."

Officials say over 140 people were hospitalized and at least six of them are in critical condition. Victims were taken to Temple University Hospital, Aria Health-Frankford, Hahnemann University Hospital and the Albert Einstein Medical Center.

Jefferson University Hospital treated 26 patients, the majority of which had minor injuries, according to a spokesperson.

A spokesperson at Temple University Hospital says they treated at least 36 people who are in various conditions.

An Aria Health spokeswoman says 26 patients were treated at its Frankford location while 50 were brought to its Torresdale hospital.

Hahnemann University Hospital treated about 25 patients with mostly minor injuries and a few traumas according to a spokesman.

Finally, Albert Einstein Medical Center treated 10 patients.

The incident required a 4-alarm response, including 120 firefighters and 200 police officers. An emergency response staging area was established at Frankford and Castor streets.

Officials say they don't believe the incident was an act of terror and preliminary information indicates it was an accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a go-team to investigate the derailment. Members of that team arrived early wednesday morning. NTSB investigator Mike Flanigon is leading the team as investigator-in-charge. NTSB Board Member Robert Sumwalt is accompanying the team and will serve as the main spokesman during the on-scene phase of the investigation.

The derailment occurred at almost the exact same location of another deadly derailment 71 years ago. On Sept. 6, 1943, a Congressional Limited careened off the tracks with 541 passengers on-board, including many service members on leave. Seventy-nine passengers were killed and 117 were injured.

Accounts From Passengers

Yameen Allworld, a Philadelphia music producer who has worked with the Roots, was on the train and posted a video on Instagram. In the video passengers could be heard crying and crawling through the sideways car.

Janelle Richards, a producer for NBC Nightly News, was another passenger on the train. Richards says she heard a loud crash around 9:20 p.m. She also said people flew up in the air and there was a lot of "jerking back and forth" and "a lot of smoke."

Patrick Murphy, a former congressman from Pennsylvania's 8th District and Iraq War veteran was in the cafe car when the train crashed.

"It wobbled at first and then went off the tracks," Murphy said. "There were some pretty banged-up people. One guy next to me was passed out. We kicked out the window in the top of the train car and helped get everyone out."

Max Helfman, 19, of Watchung, New Jersey was on the train with his mother when the crash occurred. Helfman says they were in the last car of the train when they suddenly felt it shake. The car then flipped over.

"People were thrown to the ground," Helfman said. "Chairs inside the train became unscrewed and suitcases were falling on people. My mother flew into me and I literally had to catch her. People were bleeding from their head. It was awful."

Helfman says he saw smoke after the car flipped over.

"We were worried it may explode so we tried to get people out of the car," he said.

Helfman says he helped some of the passengers squeeze through a door that was slightly open. Responding police officers then helped them through a back door.

After getting off the train, Helfman and his mother boarded a bus that traveled to Webster Elementary.

"I'm scratched and may have a concussion," he said. "At this point it's hard to tell." 

Jeff Kutler, a passenger traveling from Washington, D.C. to his home in New York was riding in the quiet car when he realized something was wrong.

"It started tipping to the right and after a couple seconds, maybe it was half a secong, I realized there was nothing good going to happen here, this train is tipping over," Kutler said.

U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) was also on the train though he disembarked at the Wilmington, Delaware station about 40 miles south from where the train derailed.

"I am grateful to be home safe and sound in Wilmington, and my heart goes out to all those on the train tonight," Carper said. "I hope all of those that are injured recover quickly, and I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers."

Suspended Service

Amtrak's Northeast Corridor service between New York and Philadelphia is suspended. SEPTA regional rail service is also suspended until further notice on the Trenton Regional Rail line due to the accident. A SEPTA official said it's likely the Trenton Line will be suspended throughout the day Wednesday and possibly through the remainder of the work week.

Service was restored on the Chestnut Hill West line just after 5 a.m. SEPTA officials said passengers of that line should expect delays.

SEPTA officials said additional train cars would be added along the West Trenton line to accommodate Trenton Line passengers looking for an alternate service. Passengers are also encouraged to use the Market/Frankford line as an alternate.

Several passengers were left stranded at 30th Street Station due to the deadly derailment and the subsequent cancellations.

This story is developing. Stay with NBC10.com for updates.

Frankford Junction, the scene of Tuesday night’s deadly Philadelphia derailment of Amtrak Regional 188, has seen devastation before.

On Labor Day, 71 years ago, the Congressional Limited careened off the tracks with 541 passengers on board including many service members on leave. Seventy-nine passengers were killed and 117 were injured in one of the worst rail disasters of its day.

The new high-speed electric train was traveling the same route on Sept. 6, 1943 as Amtrak 188 — Washington D.C. to New York. It was packed with passengers, and an extra, older dining car was added to deal with the capacity, according to the National Railway Historical Society's Lancaster Chapter. The addition brought the car total to 16. The ride had been smooth, reports said, until it passed North Philadelphia station at Broad Street.

A part of the wheels, the junction box, on that older car began to overheat and spark. Then, right before the curve, the axle fell off and derailed eight cars. The dining car, carrying 50 people, went careening into a steel gantry and sliced clear through killing many in the car. Some passengers were thrown from windows while others were trapped inside cars.

Bell Graham lived nearby and described the scene to The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1993. She heard passengers screaming “on and on.”

"The crash, my God, it was awful,” she told the paper. “It was a sad day."

Passengers aboard Amtrak train 188 described a normal commute before Tuesday night's derailment in Philadelphia that turned chaotic.

Six people were killed and more than 200 treated for injuries at area hospitals after seven cars derailed in Philadelphia's Port Richmond section, officials said. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter described the scene as "an absolute disastrous mess."

Here are survivor accounts from passengers who were aboard the train:

"It Looked Like We Were Going to Flip"

“We were going along nice and smooth, and then all of a sudden we were on our side," passenger Don Kelleher told NBC Philadelphia hours after the accident. "Then it looked like we were going to flip, but we never flipped. We went on the side and then back off the side. And then we came to a halt."

"People Were Bleeding From Their Head"

Max Helfman, 19, of Watchung, New Jersey, had been riding the train with his mother when the crash occurred. Helfman said they were in the last car of the train when they suddenly felt it shake, and then the car flipped over.

"People were thrown to the ground," Helfman said. "Chairs inside the train became unscrewed and suitcases were falling on people. My mother flew into me and I literally had to catch her. People were bleeding from their head. It was awful."

"I Realized That Nothing Good Was Going to Happen Here"

Jeff Kutler, who was sitting in the train's quiet car, was heading from Washington, D.C., to his home in New York. He said his first indication of trouble was when the car started tipping to the right.

"And after a couple of seconds, or maybe it was a half a second, I realized that nothing good was going to happen here," Kutler said. "This train was tipping over." After the accident, Kutler was rushed to the hospital.

"It Was Terrifying and Awful"

New York Observer reporter Jillian Jorgensen told The Associated Press in an email that she was also seated in the quiet car and that the train was going "fast enough for me to be worried" when it began a hard bank to the right.

When the train derailed, the lights went out, and Jorgensen was thrown from her seat and she "flew across the train.” She said she landed landed underneath seats.

"It was terrifying and awful, and as it was happening it just did not feel like the kind of thing you could walk away from, so I feel very lucky," Jorgensen said.

"People Just Started Asking, 'How Do We Get Off the Train?'"

NBC Nightly News producer Janelle Richards told NBC New York she heard a loud crash around 9:20 p.m. She said people flew up in the air and there was a lot of "jerking back and forth."

She said the train "started to fill with smoke and I looked to my left and there was a woman in the aisle with blood coming down her face. And after a second, myself and other people just started asking, 'How do we get off the train? How do we get off the train?'"

"I Walked Off as if, Like, I Was in a Movie"

Another passenger, Daniel Wetrin, told the AP he was among more than a dozen people who were transported to a nearby elementary school after the incident.

"I think the fact that I walked off (the train) kind of made it even more surreal because a lot of people didn't walk off," Wetrin said. "I walked off as if, like, I was in a movie. There were people standing around, people with bloody faces. There were people, chairs, tables mangled about in the compartment ... power cables all buckled down as you stepped off the train."

"There Were Some Pretty Banged-Up People"

Patrick Murphy, a former congressman from Pennsylvania's 8th District and an Iraq War veteran, was in the cafe car when the train crashed.

"There were some pretty banged-up people," Murphy said. "One guy next to me was passed out. We kicked out the window in the top of the train car and helped get everyone out."

"The Whole Thing Is Like a Pile of Metal"

AP manager Paul Cheung was watching Netflix when "the train started to decelerate, like someone had slammed the brake."

He said he saw passengers trying to escape through the windows of cars tipped on their sides. "The front of the train is really mangled," he said. "It's a complete wreck. The whole thing is like a pile of metal."

A Philadelphia CEO and mother of a 2-year-old died after the deadly Amtrak train derailment Tuesday night in Port Richmond.

Rachel Jacobs is the CEO of ApprenNet.  A family friend said Jacobs was on Amtrak Northeast Regional Train 188, which was on its way to New York from Washington, D.C., when it derailed near the Frankford exchange in Port Richmond. Jacobs was reported missing Wednesday morning. Her family confirmed she had died in the crash Wednesday night. 

"This is an unthinkable tragedy," the family wrote in a statement. "Rachel was a wonderful mother, daughter, sister, wife and friend. She was devoted to her family, her community and the pursuit of social justice. We cannot imagine life without her. We respectfully ask for privacy so that we can begin the process of grieving."

ApprenNet is based in Philadelphia, but co-workers say she lives in New York.

Jacobs is the mother of a 2-year-old.

Passengers' and witnesses' cameras caught the harrowing moments after an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, killing at least seven people and injuring more than 200 more.

Video shot by passengers shows people helping each other crawl off the derailed train, lying on its side, and first responders helping injured victims into ambulances. In another clip, passengers push open a door. "Go, go, go, go," they tell each other.

Watch footage of the train crash's aftermath in the players above and below.

A projectile hit a SEPTA train minutes before an Amtrak train derailed in Philadelphia Tuesday night, SEPTA spokeswoman Jerri Williams confirmed.

Williams said investigators do not believe the SEPTA incident is related in any way to the derailment.

The projectile hit and busted the engineer's window on a northbound SEPTA train that was headed to Trenton on tracks that run along the Amtrak rails, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. About 80 passengers were put on buses to continue their trip.

Less than five minutes later and approximately four miles away Amtrak train 188 shuddered and went off the tracks at the Frankford Junction in Northeast Philadelphia, killing at least 7 people and injuring more than 200.

A full investigative team from the National Transportation Safety Board and multiple federal, state and local agencies remained at the crash site Wednesday.