An Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a county work truck and derailed in Southern California, critically injuring the truck’s driver, authorities said.
Three of the train’s seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. Fourteen people on the train were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, while the truck driver was taken to a trauma centre with a head injury, McGrath said.
Parts of the demolished Ventura County Public Works truck were scattered all around the derailed train cars. McGrath initially said the truck’s driver was believed to have exited the vehicle before the crash, but later clarified that the circumstances leading up to the impact weren’t known.
“No one’s talked to him, so the whole situation is still being investigated,” he said.
The derailed train cars remained upright on tracks adjacent to an orchard and bare sections of land.