A Metrolink commuter train derailed before dawn on Wednesday in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, killing at least four people and injuring many others, authorities said.
Los Angeles Fire Captain Rex Vilaubi told KABC-TV: ”At this point we have three confirmed dead” in the crash of the train headed from Los Angeles’ Union Station to Burbank.
BBC World later reported four people dead, 15 trapped in the wreckage and 100 injured.
Firefighters could be seen carrying injured people from the cars, as smoke wafted from twisted wreckage at the scene of the crash. Two separate trains could be seen derailed; the other train appeared to be operated by Union Pacific.
”There are multiple injuries,” Metrolink spokesperson Denise Tyrrell told KABC. ”We are at the moment attending to those injuries on the ground and we’re assessing the situation.”
In 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.
Representatives from Union Pacific did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
One Metrolink car appeared to have been sent twisting backward by the force of the crash, which happened after 6am. — Sapa-AP