Saguaro
04-25-2008, 08:58 PM
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- A tractor-trailer rammed a Chicago Transit Authority rail station Friday during the evening rush hour, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others, authorities said.
Those killed, both women, were apparently walking near the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line station on the city's South Side, Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said. They were dead at the scene, she said.
Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said. Eleven were in critical condition, including four children; eight adults were in stable condition; and two adults were in good condition.
"This is rush hour, so it's bad," Langford said.
Workers were searching the wreckage Friday evening for more injured, Langford said.
The truck's driver was extricated from the cab and taken to a hospital, Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said at a news conference.
The truck hit pedestrians and then "climbed the stairs" of the station's north stairwell about 5:20 p.m., Langford said.
"Right now, this is just a tragic traffic accident," Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Joseph Patterson said.
Hazardous materials crews were on the scene because the semi leaked fuel, Langford said.
Most of those injured were either in the bus shelter under the elevated train station or in the station's stairwell, Rodriguez said.
Engineers determined that there was no structural damage to the overhead station, but the stairs sustained "very significant damage," CTA President Ron Huberman said. Trains on the Red Line, which runs to the city's far South Side from downtown, will not stop at the station until further notice, he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/25/truck.crash.ap/index.html
Those killed, both women, were apparently walking near the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line station on the city's South Side, Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said. They were dead at the scene, she said.
Twenty-one people were taken to area hospitals, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said. Eleven were in critical condition, including four children; eight adults were in stable condition; and two adults were in good condition.
"This is rush hour, so it's bad," Langford said.
Workers were searching the wreckage Friday evening for more injured, Langford said.
The truck's driver was extricated from the cab and taken to a hospital, Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said at a news conference.
The truck hit pedestrians and then "climbed the stairs" of the station's north stairwell about 5:20 p.m., Langford said.
"Right now, this is just a tragic traffic accident," Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Joseph Patterson said.
Hazardous materials crews were on the scene because the semi leaked fuel, Langford said.
Most of those injured were either in the bus shelter under the elevated train station or in the station's stairwell, Rodriguez said.
Engineers determined that there was no structural damage to the overhead station, but the stairs sustained "very significant damage," CTA President Ron Huberman said. Trains on the Red Line, which runs to the city's far South Side from downtown, will not stop at the station until further notice, he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/25/truck.crash.ap/index.html