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OXNARD, Calif. (AP) — A fire official says the conductor of a Southern California commuter train was able to see an abandoned truck sitting on the tracks at a crossing, and that the conductor started to apply the brakes.
But that didn't prevent a collision that left three rail cars on their sides, and sent 28 people to the hospital -- four with critical injuries.
A man who was driving to work and was at an intersection a block away says he saw "a bright flash, a big fireball" and flames that were "going pretty high."
Authorities are questioning the truck driver. They say he left the truck on the tracks and was found several miles away after the crash.
Little was left of the truck except scorched and mangled wreckage.
The train was carrying 51 passengers and was headed from Ventura County to Los Angeles when the collision took place in Oxnard, about 65 miles from Los Angeles.
%@AP Links
171-a-13-(Sergio Martinez, public information officer, Oxnard Fire Department, at news conference)-"in police custody"-Fire spokesman Sergio Martinez says the truck driver has been found. (24 Feb 2015)
<<CUT *171 (02/24/15)££ 00:13 "in police custody"
174-a-07-(Steve Carroll, administrator, Ventura County Emergency Medical Services, at news conference)-"and extremity injuries"-Steve Carroll with the Ventura County EMS describes the most serious injuries. (24 Feb 2015)
<<CUT *174 (02/24/15)££ 00:07 "and extremity injuries"
APPHOTO CAMT212: Police officers walk next to a railroad crossing sign and the wreckage of a truck that was struck by a Metrolink passenger train that then derailed Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015, in Oxnard, Calif. Three cars of the Metrolink train tumbled onto their sides, injuring dozens of people in the town 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) (24 Feb 2015)
<<APPHOTO CAMT212 (02/24/15)££
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