KKrazy
01-26-2005, 11:16 AM
Just this morning around 6 AM Pacific time:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-012605crash_lat,0,6086765.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Two commuter trains derailed early this morning in Glendale near Burbank, leaving at least four people dead and dozens seriously injured, authorities said.
"This is the worst accident I have ever seen," Capt. Rex Valaubi, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department said in an interview with KABC-TV.
He said that the number of injured could be in the hundreds.
Most were being treated in the light rain at a triage center established in a nearby Costco parking lot, but dozens were considered serious enough to be taken to 20 local hospitals by more than 35 ambulances.
Television stations showed hundreds of tons of wreckage from the commuter trains and officials reported traffic delays throughout the area.
More than 300 firefighters combed through the derailed trains looking for trapped passengers. As firefights cleared each car, they garishly marked the side giving the cars an eerie look as they formed a twisted zig-zag pattern next to the tracks.
There were also fears that spilled diesel fuel could be a problem.
"It's a nightmare," passenger Leanne Lopez told a reporter.
According to officials, the Metrolink trains left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Train 901 was bound for Burbank and train 101 was bound for Moorpark.
Jerry Erickson, a passenger on one of the trains, said he felt a small turbulence when his train passed another train. "That is usual," he told television interviewers.
But the turbulence got worse and the car began to shake. "It flipped over," he said. "So we got out."
Officials were still trying to piece together what happened, but the early investigation showed that the accident took place about 6 a.m. near San Fernando Road and Chevy Chase Drive. The area is near where Burbank, Glendale and Atwater Village in Los Angeles meet.
One survivor told a television reporter that he thought one train hit a car and then struck the other Metrolink train and eventually a Union Pacific freight car that was turned over.
Officials could not confirm that report.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-012605crash_lat,0,6086765.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Two commuter trains derailed early this morning in Glendale near Burbank, leaving at least four people dead and dozens seriously injured, authorities said.
"This is the worst accident I have ever seen," Capt. Rex Valaubi, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department said in an interview with KABC-TV.
He said that the number of injured could be in the hundreds.
Most were being treated in the light rain at a triage center established in a nearby Costco parking lot, but dozens were considered serious enough to be taken to 20 local hospitals by more than 35 ambulances.
Television stations showed hundreds of tons of wreckage from the commuter trains and officials reported traffic delays throughout the area.
More than 300 firefighters combed through the derailed trains looking for trapped passengers. As firefights cleared each car, they garishly marked the side giving the cars an eerie look as they formed a twisted zig-zag pattern next to the tracks.
There were also fears that spilled diesel fuel could be a problem.
"It's a nightmare," passenger Leanne Lopez told a reporter.
According to officials, the Metrolink trains left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Train 901 was bound for Burbank and train 101 was bound for Moorpark.
Jerry Erickson, a passenger on one of the trains, said he felt a small turbulence when his train passed another train. "That is usual," he told television interviewers.
But the turbulence got worse and the car began to shake. "It flipped over," he said. "So we got out."
Officials were still trying to piece together what happened, but the early investigation showed that the accident took place about 6 a.m. near San Fernando Road and Chevy Chase Drive. The area is near where Burbank, Glendale and Atwater Village in Los Angeles meet.
One survivor told a television reporter that he thought one train hit a car and then struck the other Metrolink train and eventually a Union Pacific freight car that was turned over.
Officials could not confirm that report.