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1 Dead, 1 Injured In Metrolink Crash In Corona

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Sep 12, 2008 7:26 pm US/Pacific

1 Dead, 1 Injured In Metrolink Crash In Corona

CORONA

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: A Metrolink train collided with a freight train in Chatsworth Friday evening. A second, less deadly, Metrolink collision also occured Friday. The Corona crash killed a car driver and injured a passenger on the train.
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The coroner Saturday identified the motorist killed in a collision with a Metrolink train as a 65-year-old Corona woman.

Sitaro Hashimi reportedly drove her sedan around a deployed crossing gate and was hit by the eastbound commuter train at 5:11 p.m. Friday in the 200 block of N. Sheridan Street, near Railroad Street, according to the coroner and Corona Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Samuels.

The Riverside County crash occurred less than 50 minutes after a Metrolink commuter train and freight train collided in the Chatsworth area of Los Angeles County, leaving at least 18 dead.

The Corona crash took place about a quarter-mile from the North Main Corona Metrolink Station, the train's destination.

Hashimi, who was driving a black Lexus, was declared dead at the scene at 5:19 p.m., according to the coroner and police. There were no other occupants in the sedan.

One Metrolink passenger who suffered an apparent anxiety attack was taken to Corona Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to Corona police Lt. Brent Coleman.

A preliminary investigation indicated the Lexus was "southbound on Sheridan Street and began to stop for the railroad crossing arms, which were flashing red and lowered," Coleman said. "The vehicle then drove around the crossing arms and was struck by the ... train."

Leslie Hernandez of Corona was one of 600 passengers on the commuter train, which originated in Orange. Hernandez said passengers were not permitted to leave the train for two hours while the investigation was under way.

It was not clear Saturday whether passengers on the stopped commuter train in Corona knew of the catastrophe and frantic search-and-rescue operation unfolding at the same time in Chatsworth.