A speeding commuter train slammed into an ABC-TV charter bus trapped at a crossing in rush-hour traffic Monday, killing two passengers and injuring six others, officials said.
Kurt Michael Sanger, sports marketing director for ABC-TV, and Adele Ruffis, a San Francisco Bay Area account executive for the network, were killed as the bus headed for the Monday Night Football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. The 49ers won 34-24.The nearly empty bus was one of four chartered by ABC Sports to ferry employees to Candlestick Park for the game. One passenger was hospitalized in stable condition after the accident, and five others were treated for minor injuries and released.
Paul Cang, 33, was hospitalized at nearby Peninsula Hospital in Burlingame with trauma injuries, including a possible concussion. He was listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit early Tuesday morning.
The southbound Southern Pacific train, traveling about 60 mph, clipped the trapped International Coach Lines charter bus at the Butler Road crossing at about 5:45 p.m. PST, railroad spokesman Bob Hoppe said.
Nobody on the train was injured, Hoppe said.
"The bus apparently was caught in the crossing during gridlocked traffic when the gates came down and the train came barreling through, clipping the back end of the bus," a spokesman for the South San Francisco Fire Department said.