Editorials

One identified in dual fatality of Amtrak crash

Daily Planet staff and wire reports
Wednesday December 19, 2001

A spokesman for the Alameda County Coroner’s Office identified one of the two people killed by an Amtrak train at Gilman Street Saturday evening as Jorge Alvarado. 

The two were struck at 5:47 p.m., about 200 feet East of Gilman by a Capitol Corridor commuter train traveling from Oakland to Sacramento, according to an Amtrack spokesperson. 

Alvarado, who was about 30 years old, was from Mexico, which it is why it took investigators a few days to obtain a positive identification, the coroner said.  

The other victim, who has yet to be identified, is also said to be of Latino origins.  

The train was moving at about 60 mph when it struck the men, probably killing them instantly, said Amtrak spokesman Mike Furtney.  

The exact cause of the accident is still under investigation, Furtney said. However, an unofficial account of the incident indicates that the two people were sitting on the track and failed to move as the train bore down, even after the engineer blew his whistle.