Train Kills Woman Who Fought Off Rescuer : Tragedy: Man pulls three others from stalled car. The women, who spoke Vietnamese, apparently thought he was trying to rob them.

Apparently convinced that he planned to rob them, four women fought off a Good Samaritan until he was finally able to pull three of them to safety before a train struck their stalled car at a rail crossing in the City of Industry, the rescuer said Tuesday.

But Thi Dui, 72, the grandmother of the family, was killed when the mile-long train struck the car, which burst into flames as it was pushed down the tracks for a half a mile.

“I don’t think (Dui) realized what was going on,” said Bernardo Vazquez, 29, an RTD bus driver who lives in Fontana. “She just smiled at me and looked at me and tried to be friendly with me.”

The car’s driver, Jenny Duong, 41, her 10-year-old daughter, Sharon Phong, and a family friend, Chuyen Nguyen, 20, were released after being treated for trauma at Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.

The women were heading home about 10:40 p.m. Monday when Duong apparently became confused and turned onto the train tracks, where her car became stuck, according to Deputy Donald Blades of the Industry sheriff’s station.

Vazquez said he was driving to a cousin’s home when he saw the flashing red lights and the crossing gates coming down as the train approached.

Realizing that Duong’s car was stuck on the tracks, Vazquez ran to the vehicle and shouted at the occupants to get out. Vazquez said the occupants were shouting in Vietnamese and apparently did not understand him.

“I was banging on the window,” Vazquez said. “They wouldn’t open their doors. They thought I was trying to jump them.”

Vazquez said that about a minute before the train hit the car he opened the unlocked door on the driver’s side, grabbed Duong’s arm and yanked her out of the car.

“I twisted her face to show her that the train was coming,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez reached into the back seat and tried to pull the two passengers from the car but they resisted and tried to scratch him, he said.

Finally, with only a few seconds to spare, he grabbed two of them--one of them by the hair--and pulled them out.

“I know that if there was a little more communication they would have saved the grandma,” Vazquez said later, weeping softly. “It’s terrible. I pictured her face a couple of inches away. She was smiling at me.”

He said that he could speak to her now he would tell her, “You’re in heaven. Your children are fine.”