A light rail train has crashed into a car severely injuring the driver and the train’s operator along with injuring 19 passengers on the train. This incident took place in front of University of Southern California.
Shortly after, 11 a.m. on Saturday the Metro Expo Line was on its way towards east to down. The authorities said it seemed that the driver of a car, 21, didn’t notice the train and tried taking left across the tracks from the street.
The silver Hyundai was smashed as bad it could get just steps away from its being fully demolished. The first 2 of 4 the train’s passenger vehicles were slightly dislodged although they stayed erect.
Fire Capt. Daniel Curry mentioned at the scene of the accident that “We had to use the Jaws of Life to extricate the driver, and we transported him to a local hospital. He was in very crucial situation.”
Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo said that the operator of the train had been driven to the hospital in a critical condition although his condition has improved.
19 passengers on the train had been injured too but mostly with cuts and bruises. Curry said “They had been all in a position to walk off the train.”
8 amongst them had to be taken to hospitals whereas the others had been let go.
The cause of the crash in undergoing an investigation although Diljiat Sandhu, the Metro supervisor mentioned that it seemed that driver of the car attempted to turn left at the rail crossing and did not see the train approaching.
The car was left is a terrible conditions at the somewhat lodged into the tracks on Saturday afternoon.
The crash happened in the area where Metro trains travel towards the middle of Los Angeles’ Exposition Boulevard, with vehicles going either on the east or the west. The passenger cars are pasted with bold warning signs reading “Heads Up! Watch For Trains.”
Officials said that on the northern side of the boulevard is the USC campus and the southern side is the entrance of the Los Angeles’ Museum of All-natural History. It seemed that the driver had been attempting to cross at a side street which dead-ends at the parking compound of the school campus.
Several blocks of the Exposition Boulevard had been locked down while Metro worked to remove the train. As the wreck took place between stations, passengers were requested to walk from one station to the next to carry on their rides.
The agency expected to the line operating by evening of Saturday, said Ubaldo.
