U.S. & World

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― A Metrolink train carrying 222 people collided head-on with a freight train during the Friday afternoon rush, killing at least 25 people, including an LAPD officer, injuring more than 135 and trapping an unknown number of others in a passenger car crushed by its own engine.

Firefighters extinguished a blaze under part of the wreckage and freed people from the destroyed Metrolink commuter car, which was left toppled on its side with the train's engine shoved back inside it. Two other cars in the passenger train remained upright.

"It was horrendous," said Leslie Burnstein, a psychologist who saw the collision from her home and rushed to pull victims from the wreckage. "Blood was everywhere. ... I heard people yelling, screaming in pain, begging for help."

Firefighters worked on the wreckage for hours after the 4:23 p.m. collision, and shortly after 11 p.m. Fire Chief Dennis Barry said during a news conference that firefighters were still in the "rescue and extrication phase," although he did not indicate whether any victim was known to be alive in the wreckage.

The Union Pacific freight train's engine was also turned onto its side, with the rest of the train splayed out like an accordion behind it.

Estimates of the number of people injured varied. According to CBS station KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, Fire Capt. Armando Hogan said there were 47 critically injured and 20 with minor injuries.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said about 135 people were injured and 24 people were confirmed dead.

"This is the worst accident I've ever seen," Villaraigosa said. "Clearly the injuries are going to mount and so are the fatalities."

The Metrolink locomotive was deeply embedded into the passenger car, the fire chief said.

"We have victims on top of victims," Barry said.

One of the dead was Los Angeles police Officer Spree Desha, 35. Late in the evening officers and sheriff's deputies formed lines near the wreckage and saluted, while firefighters stopped working and held their helmets, as her wrapped body was carried past. Desha joined the department in 2001.

The crash "made a terrible sound, like a bomb, a huge noise," said Julio Pedraza, 35, who lives and works at a nearby horse boarding facility. He said he saw passengers emerging from the wreckage, and he and others helped the injured, one with skin peeling off of his forehead.

"They were yelling for help and crying," Pedraza said in Spanish.

Firefighters treated the injured at three triage areas near the wreck, and helicopters flew in and out of a nearby landing area on medical evacuation flights.

Rescuers worked atop the wreckage and through breaches in the passenger car to reach victims. Dazed and injured passengers sat on the ground and milled about on both sides of the tracks.

Surgeons were sent to the scene.

Dr. Stephanie Hall, chief medical officer at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, said three people in critical condition -- two females and a male -- were being treated at the hospital.

"They are massive injuries," she said.

Seven men and one woman were taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. "We're pretty hopeful we'll get through the night with everyone surviving their injuries," said Dr. Mark Morocco. Another eight were transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. None of their conditions were immediately known.

The trains collided in the Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley.

Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said there were 220 passengers aboard the passenger train, along with one driver and one conductor.

"I do not know what caused the wreck. Obviously two trains are not supposed to be on the same track at the same time," said Tyrrell, who broke down crying and was shaking.

The speed limit for freight and passenger trains on the stretch of track is 40 mph, Tyrrell said, and if both trains were traveling at the limit they would hit with a combined total force of 80 mph.

Tyrell said Union Pacific informed her that there were four crew members on the freight train, which was a "local" that originated in Oxnard and was traveling to Chatsworth.

The condition of the freight crew was not immediately known.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said it is common in California for freight and commuter trains to share the same track.

"You see it a lot in California where commuter trains share tracks with freight trains," she said, adding she couldn't speculate about the cause of the crash.

Tyrrell said the Metrolink train left Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and was headed northwest to Moorpark in Ventura County.

The crash happened in an area where the tracks form a "U" shape, about 2,500 feet wide. At the top of the bend is a 500-foot long tunnel that runs beneath Stoney Point Park, popular with climbers for its large boulders.

On the north side of the tunnel, there is a siding, a length of track where one train can wait for another to pass, Tyrrell said.

The area where the crash occurred, which is used by freight and commuter trains, has a reputation for trouble, said Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor at the University of Southern California.

"That stretch of rail -- an 18-mile stretch -- has had a lot of crossing accidents, a lot of other accidents in the last 10 years," Meshkati said.

The federal investigation into the crash will be headed by the National Transportation Safety Board, said Steven Kulm, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. The FRA will conduct a review of whether any federal rail safety regulations were violated, he said.

Asked about how the two trains ended up on the same track, Kulm said, "We are nowhere near having any information on that."

The toppled passenger car was part of a Bombardier BiLevel coach, commonly used for regional railways. Each double-decker car is about 16 feet high and 10 feet wide and can seat up to 160 passengers, depending on its configuration.

The worst disaster in Metrolink's history occurred on Jan. 26, 2005, in suburban Glendale, when a man parked a gasoline-soaked SUV on railroad tracks. A Metrolink train struck the SUV and derailed, striking another Metrolink train traveling the other way, killing 11 people and injuring about 180 others. Juan Alvarez was convicted this year of murder for causing the crash.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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