(Long Beach, California – August 31, 2012)
Three days after 32 passengers aboard either a Los Angeles Metro Blue Line train or a city bus were injured when the two mass transit vehicles collided at a non-gated light rail crossing in Los Angeles, CA, another life – the seventh thus far this year – was lost in a collision between another Blue Line train and an automobile at the non-gated intersection of 19th Street and Metro rail tracks in Long Beach, CA Thursday night at about 8:40 P.M.
Four passengers aboard the train were also injured, with three being taken to area hospitals and the fourth being treated at the scene.
The 26-year-old male motorist was westbound on 19th Street when the Blue Line train, traveling north on tracks that run along Long Beach Boulevard, crushed the car, carrying it, impaled upon the nose of the train, for some distance before coming to a stop.
Long Beach Fire Dept. responded to the scene and attempted to extricate the victim from his vehicle until he was pronounced dead. Thereafter, the man’s body was left inside his vehicle until the investigation was completed.
“We’ll send a truck out to extricate the individual,” said LBFD Firefighter Matt Dobberpuhl. “The body will then be turned over to the coroner,” he added.
According to Wikipedia, “Over 100 motorists and pedestrians have been killed at Blue Line level crossings since 1990, and there have been over 800 accidents, making the line, by multiples, the deadliest and most accident prone rail line in the country.”
