Woman on Rush Hour N.J. Train That Crashed into Station, Killing 1 and Injuring Dozens: 'It Was Out of a Movie'

For Monica Nolasco, 22, Thursday's morning commute aboard the NJ Transit train was going smoothly until her train pulled into the last stop: Hoboken.

"I was standing up and taking something out of the overhead, and the train just jerked forward," she tells PEOPLE. "I fell into the seat in front of me, and a guy totally face planted into the ground."

Nolasco, who always sits in the last car of train, was next to the conductor, who tried helping people keep their balance as the train teetered back and forth for less than a minute.

"The lights flickered and shut off," she says. "The conductor was yelling for everyone to stay calm, asking if we were okay, and that he didn't know what happened."

One person died and about 100 people are estimated to be injured after the rush hour train derailed and crashed into the commuter station, according to officials. According to a NJ Transit News release, the crash took place at 8:45 a.m., when a Pascack Valley line departure from Spring Valley operating to Hoboken struck the Hoboken Terminal building on track 5.

In a press conference Wednesday morning, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said there was no indication the crash was anything other than an accident at this stage and that the cause was being investigated.

Nolasco didn't realize the extent of the crash until she walked off the train and saw the horror of the scene.

"The first car was totally off the tracks at a 45 degree angle to the right," she says. "The ceiling had come down, there were beams everywhere and water was pouring out."

A man walked by her crying and cradling his hands and his arms, which were bleeding.

She watched in shock as transit workers and conductors pulled people out of the window, trying to get them out.

"People were bleeding from their heads, their noses were busted and they were holding their faces and hands," she says.

Frozen, she stood and watched an ambulance pick up a man who "was basically blinded with blood."

"He was in such a daze and shock," she says. "There was no screaming or crying, just people shock up and helping each other."

Nolasco, who quickly called her parents to tell them she was okay, says the scene was "straight out of a movie."

At a news conference, Joseph Scott, CEO of the Jersey City Medical Center, said the hospital is treating 9 to 11 people from serious to critical condition, and 40 walk-in patients.

Jarrod Bernstein, a spokesperson for CarePoint Health, which runs several hospitals in the area, said 16 patients had been transported to Hoboken University Medical Center. Earlier Bernstein told CNN that patients might be transported to other area hospitals.

"You never think something so routine as a morning commute could take such a turn for the worst," she says. "I'm so lucky and grateful to be okay."