A Southern California surgical team amputated the arm of a freight train engineer to free him from the wreckage of a locomotive that rear-ended a slow moving freighter on tracks near Fontana.
The Union Pacific train struck a slower-moving train in the Fontana at about 11:55 p.m. Thursday. Two people aboard the train were hospitalized.
"Both trains were traveling westbound. The rear train (hit) the one in front of it," Fire Prevention Officer Maurice Moore, of the San Bernardino County Fire Department, told the Press-Enterprise. "There were two engines pulling the train in the rear, and they ended up coming to rest (atop) the other train.
"I believe the (load of) steel on the lead train went through the engine, and that's how he was pinned."
San Bernardino County fire spokesman Maurice Moore said firefighters were unable to get the trapped engineer out of the wrecked Union Pacific locomotive and a surgical team was called in to amputate his arm. He's in critical condition at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The other railroad worker is hospitalized with unknown moderate injuries.
The wreck alongside eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 at Cherry Avenue created a traffic crush for more than four hours. Emergency vehicles used the freeway to access the wreckage and it was feared hazardous materials might be leaking from a rail tanker, Moore said. It was later determined there were no dangerous materials in the wreckage.
Eastbound freeway lanes reopened by 4 a.m. Friday. The Cherry Avenue off-ramp on the eastbound 10 Freeway is expected to remain closed until 6 p.m.
