January 26, 2005
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Photo: Aerial footage taken by a KNBC-TV helicopter shows the scene of Wednesday's derailment near Glendale, Calif.
GLENDALE, Calif. - Two Metrolink commuter trains derailed in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale early Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.
Firefighters picked through twisted wreckage scattered across the tracks and carried injured passengers from the trains to a triage center set up in a parking lot. Los Angeles Fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said four had died and dozens were injured.
One of the commuter trains was headed from Los Angeles’ Union Station to downtown Burbank, and the other was bound from Union Station to Moorpark, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said.
In a light rain, firefighters were searching through wreckage and set up a command post in a nearby parking lot, where injured people could be seen lying on mats awaiting treatment. Nearly 300 firefighters were at the scene and 35 ambulances were taking injured passengers to hospitals.
One Metrolink car was sent twisting backward by the force of the crash, which happened after 6 a.m. near the intersection of San Fernando Road and Chevy Chase Boulevard. A small fire erupted in the crash, and smoke could be seen wafting from the wreckage.
One of the trains struck a Union Pacific locomotive that was parked on a side track overnight, knocking it over, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said.
Sgt. Carol Meyer, director of Emergency Medical Services for Los Angeles County, told MSNBC that nine victims in critical condition and at least 50 other casualties have been transported to multiple hospitals in the Los Angeles area.
George Touma, 19, of Burbank said he was called by his mother, who was on one of the Metrolink trains.
“She told me she was bleeding in the head and her arm was really hurting,” said Touma, who was searching for her. “I’m really worried because she has vertigo and when I tried to call back she wouldn’t answer.
“She said she remembered hearing sequential loud noises and then somebody pulled her out of the train while it was burning. She was in a panicked mode and now she’s not picking up.”
Bromley said the track on which the crash happened is owned and operated by Metrolink.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6870372/