4 Killed, 2 Hurt When Trains Crash in Corona

Four railway crew members were killed and two others were injured this morning when two freight trains collided before dawn, igniting a brief, spectacular inferno, according to authorities and eyewitnesses.

Michael A. Martin, a spokesman for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co., declined to immediately identify the dead, pending notification of their families.

The deaths occurred about 4:10 a.m. when a Chicago-bound freight train collided with another headed from Barstow to Los Angeles, according to Martin. The entire crew of the westbound train--an engineer, a conductor and a brakeman--died. On the eastbound train, the brakeman was killed, Martin said.

The two crew members of the eastbound train who survived were taken to area hospitals with injuries that Martin described as less than life-threatening.

James Dawson, 50, was in fair condition with a fractured knee and head lacerations at Riverside General Hospital, nursing supervisor Jane Dolan said. Warren Sanders, whose age was not disclosed immediately, was in good condition with a fractured ankle at Corona Community Hospital, according to nursing supervisor Kathy Stephens.

Martin, the railway spokesman, said the cause of the accident was under investigation. Four locomotives and at least six freight cars derailed. Both trains were operated by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe company.

For reasons that Martin said were not yet known, the westbound train, weighing 8,700 tons and stretching 6,094 feet long, apparently moved forward from a side track, its lead locomotive striking the eastbound train near the front of its second engine.

The eastbound train, which Martin estimated was traveling up to 65 m.p.h., had three locomotives, weighed 3,152 tons, was 4,229 feet long and was composed of box cars, tank cars, hopper cars and empty automobile carriers.