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Ten die in LA commuter train collision
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-27 09:01
At least 10 people were killed and nearly 200 injured on Wednesday when
two Los Angeles commuter trains collided after one struck an automobile
left on the tracks in what authorities called an aborted suicide
attempt by a "deranged" man.
Aerial view of crash site of Los Angeles commuter trains collision
outside Glendale, California, January 26, 2005. Ten people were killed
and about 200 injured on Wednesday when two Los Angeles commuter trains
collided after one of them hit a vehicle left on the tracks by a man
contemplating suicide, authorities said. Police and city officials said
the 26-year-old man, whom they described as "deranged," watched the two
trains smash into each other at high speed after leaving his Jeep
Cherokee on the tracks. [Reuters]
Police and fire officials said the man slashed his wrists and stabbed
himself in the chest shortly before parking his Jeep Cherokee on the
tracks. But he jumped clear at the last moment and watched as the two
high-speed trains smashed together and derailed in a fiery wreck.
The man was identified by police as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25. He was
found wandering the scene after the predawn accident, muttering: "I'm
sorry, I'm sorry," according to a local television report. Police said
the man, who was uninjured in the crash, was arrested and would be
charged with at least 10 counts of murder.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said decisions about
charging the suspect would be made by Friday.
Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said Alvarez admitted parking on the
tracks with the intention of killing himself, but apparently changed
his mind and fled as one of the commuter trains bore down on his Jeep.
"He was very distraught and upset and realized that he caused a major
disaster," Adams told a news conference.
The commuter trains also struck a parked freight train, sparking a
brief fire. The collision occurred just after 6 a.m., near a shopping
strip at the edge of an industrial area near Glendale, north of
downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, Glendale and Burbank firefighters remove an injured
passenger of a Metrolink train that collided and derailed in the
Atwater Village area of Los Angeles, January 26, 2005. Ten people died
and more than 200 people were injured when the train collided with a
passenger car at a crossing, then hit two other trains as it derailed.
[Reuters]
About 125 people hurt in the train wreck were hospitalized, and 60
others were treated for minor injuries and released, fire officials
said. At least 10 people died, including a sheriff's deputy and a train
conductor.
Metrolink, the Southern California commuter rail service that operates
the train tracks, said it was the worst accident in its 13-year
history.
MANGLED WRECKAGE
The impact sent passengers flying through the trains and landing on top
of one another. Firefighters found bleeding passengers walking dazed
amid a tangle of twisted wreckage and scattered shoes, briefcases and
gravel. Some survivors were pushing others in shopping carts taken from
an adjacent store.
The smell of diesel spilled from one of the stricken locomotives filled
the air.
"It's like we went from 55 to 60 (mph) (90-100 kph) to zero in two
seconds flat," one injured man told reporters.
Carol Smith, 50, was on her way downtown to work and had just put down
her newspaper and was starting to meditate. "And all of a sudden, the
train pulls the brakes and jerks and the lights went out," Smith said.
She was able to walk off unscathed, although she saw a number of severe
injuries.
"I walked by a lot of people who were lying on the tracks and couldn't
move," Smith told Reuters.
"This is the worst train accident I have ever seen," Los Angeles Fire
Department Capt. Rex Vilaubi said.
Metrolink officials said the commuter trains, each consisting of a
locomotive and four double-decker passenger cars, are authorized to
travel at up to 79 mph through the area. But they were probably going
somewhat slower because one had just left a nearby station and one was
approaching it.
Metrolink chief executive David Solow said the severity of the wreck
was due to the Jeep's having been wedged tightly into the tracks,
creating an "immovable object."
Adams described the suspect as a "deranged individual" and said he had
a record of prior drug-related arrests, but police knew little else of
his background. He said investigators believed him to be a transient.
The man's self-inflicted slash and stab wounds, made with a knife soon
before the train wreck, appeared to be superficial, Adams said.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose department oversees rail
safety, said he was "outraged that people coming to work on a very safe
train system would have to face something as tragic as this."
"When some individual parks his vehicle on the train track knowing full
well that a train is coming, this is cause for serious, serious alarm."
he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate
Wednesday's crash -- the fourth serious train accident in Southern
California in the past three years.
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