At least 55 people have been injured in Los Angeles after a University of Southern California shuttle bus collided with a Metro light rail train, officials say.
The Los Angeles Fire Department says the accident happened around noon Tuesday along Exposition Boulevard near the USC Campus and Natural History Museum.
“The bus definitely got crunched on its front end,” Genesis Hernandez, who was traveling in the area around the time of the collision, told The Associated Press. “All of a sudden I just saw a bunch of ambulances going by.”
Dave Sotero, a spokesperson for LA Metro, said to the AP that the bus crossed into the path of an E Line train. The light rail line runs from East Los Angeles to downtown Santa Monica mostly along streets, and not all of the crossings have gates.
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First responders on scene at the location where a bus collided with a Los Angeles Metro train on Tuesday. (KTTV)
The Starcraft 40-passenger bus was traveling with only the driver and one passenger aboard when the collision occurred, according to a statement from USC Transportation. The bus driver and passenger were the two most severely injured, fire department officials say.
There were also more than 150 passengers on the Santa Monica-bound Metro train.
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A person injured in the collision near the USC Campus and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles is taken away from the scene. (KTTV)
The Los Angeles Fire Department says first responders “evaluated and treated at least 55 people as a result of the train/bus collision.”
Sixteen of those people were transported to local medical facilities in fair condition, while another 37 were treated and released at the scene.
Sotero said the Los Angeles Police Department would be in charge of the investigation.
An LA Metro spokesperson says the collision happened when the bus crossed into the path of the train. (KTTV)
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“Metro offers its sympathy to those injured in the accident,” Sotero told the AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
