Authorities probe train-truck crash that injured dozens

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.