[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. We begin with breaking news. Thanks very much for joining us. Let's get right to the breaking news. Just north of Los Angeles, California where several cars on a commuter train flipped over after the train hit a truck. Right now, we're hearing that there are no, repeat no, fatalities but dozens of people are injured and they are being treated. Joining us now, our own Paul Vercammen. He's near Oxnard, California, not far away from Los Angeles. So, what kind of truck did the train hit? What do we know about what happened what happened to the driver, Paul?
[Paul Vercammen, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, I'm at the scene right now. And what happened to the driver, they now are backing away from saying that this was a tractor-trailer truck. They said it was some sort of a possible service truck. That was separated in the collision with this commuter train. Wolf, the driver, according to Ventura County fire, fled the scene and was taken into custody about a mile away. Uncertain, right now, if he had any injuries. You were talking about this collision and the injuries. From what we understand in talking to the fire department, four were immediate or critical. They had to be transported to a nearby hospital. There were nine others who were delayed, treated right there on seen at the triage unit that they had set up. Those moderate or delayed injuries ranging from broken bones, to fractures, to severe cuts, to head trauma. And then, there were 15 other people who suffered minor injuries. The fire officials here are stressing that they think it was somewhat of a miracle that, so far, there have been no fatalities. And, of course, those four with immediate or critical injuries, not out of the woods yet. Firefighters also reckoning with on scene a serious fire. Diesel fuel everywhere. Some of it possibly coming from that truck that was separated. And as you look at the scene, the Metrolink cars did not crumple up on themselves or break open. They stayed intact. This may have reduced the total amount of injuries. They had put a lot of safety and impact measures in place after that horrific Chatsworth accident. This train, according to officials here, is what they would call a pusher. If you look at the video or the aerial pictures, you'll see that the engine is in the back, so it was moving this train toward Los Angeles. One estimate is it was about a mile or two miles from the last stop. This is not a place where it's going to exceedingly fast. One estimate, it was going 50 or 60 miles per hour when it collided with this truck, Wolf. You can see the mangled wreckage here as well of the truck that it hit, separated in two spots. The main part of the truck completely burned up in that fire and then the trailer flipped over and lying on its side. As I'm eyeballing this, and this is not easy, but it looks like there were five cars sort of detached and you can see, clearly, two of them are laying on their side. And we should also note, they took 51 people in all off the train. And 23 of them were looked over and considered uninjured. They were put on a nearby bus and all of these people will, of course, be interviewed to see if they can shed any light on why this happened here in Oxnard. Very, very rural area right through here, well-known for its agri business. You might want to call this one of America's strawberry baskets. Literally, in fields nearby, you could see people working in getting all the produce together. And that's why there's a lot of these type of trucks, Wolf, in this area.
[Blitzer:] Was that truck in the intersection there where the rails were, the truck was just stopped in the middle of an intersection? Is that the suspicion, Paul?
[Vercammen:] Exactly, Wolf. They believe that somehow this truck got stopped on the tracks in this very busy intersection. And, you know, if you eyeball it from right here, the markings are there. Rail crossing, the red flashing lights. There are crossing guards. There are signs, do not stop on track. So, somehow, someway this truck got through there right here at Fifth Street and Rice in Oxnard and was on the track. One report from Ventura County fire is the engineer was able to try to slam on, you know, some sort of brakes and minimize the impact. Perhaps that helping to save countless lives in this collision.
[Blitzer:] And, for some reason, the driver of that truck simply ran away. He was picked up, as you point out, about a mile or so from this intersection. Stand by, Paul. Joining us on the phone is the fire investigator for the city of Oxnard, Joe Garces. Joe, thanks very much for joining us. What can you tell us about the cause of this horrific train crash?
[Joseph Garces, Fire Investigator, City Of Oxnard:] Like Paul was saying, we have five cars total that were derailed. Three are on their side. And, as Paul was saying, they are all intact. What we have heard from the initial reports from the Oxnard Police Department, the lead investigating agency right now, is that the driver was unfamiliar with the area. He's a produce service out of Yuma, Arizona. He drove onto the tracks, mistaking the wide tracks for the turn onto the next highway. So, he drove approximately 50 yards on the track where he then got stuck. The driver is being cooperative. He was taken to one of the local hospitals for just to be looked over. And he at this time, he is not under arrest or in police custody. But the investigation is continuing.
[Blitzer:] And we I assume, when the train hit that truck, that Metrolink train, when it hit the truck, he was already out of the truck, right? He was not in the truck upon impact?
[Garces:] Yes, that is true. He had left the truck and when he saw that the train was coming, he had, according to him, he had fled the area.
[Blitzer:] Did he explain why he fled the scene?
[Garces:] At this time, no, we don't have that information. But he has been extremely cooperative. He is not suspected of being under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. And he's being tended to at a local hospital.
[Blitzer:] Joe, this occurred about 5:30 a.m. Pacific time, your time. So, I assume it was still dark outside and so maybe this driver was simply confused about that intersection. Is that the suspicion?
[Garces:] Yes, that is the suspicion. From where he made the right- hand turn, it's the controlled crossing arms, he turned around the first one and didn't go around the second onto the main highway.
[Blitzer:] So, clearly something has to be done to fix this to make sure there's no more confusion down the road. I know you're not in charge of the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, but if there was a blunder like this, assuming it was simply a blunder at 5:30 in the morning while it's still dark, you got to do better the Metrolink, the rails, they got to do a better job making sure that this doesn't happen again. I think you'll agree with me.
[Garces:] Well, I can't speak to that. You know, like you said, that is for engineers and traffic control to figure those things out. But what we do know is that he did admit to turning actually onto the tracks in the mistake that he thought he was turning onto the road. So, that's where we're at right now with that.
[Blitzer:] Yes. And fortunately, Joe, just want to repeat, no fatalities but a lot of injuries.
[Garces:] Yes. Zero fatalities and the four critically injured were taken to our local trauma center at Ventura, California. And I know, at this point, one has been admitted to the ICU, and we're waiting for further update on the conditions of the remaining critical.
[Blitzer:] All right. Joe Garces with the city of Oxnard Fire Department. Good luck to you. Thanks very much for all the help. We appreciate it. Good luck to all the folks out there in Oxnard in California, just outside of Los Angeles. We'll get back to this story as new information comes in. But up next, there's a huge fight here in Washington, D.C. over the funding of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A lot is at stake if they don't get the money funded by the end of this week. The Department of Homeland Security will at least partially be forced to shut down. We'll be joined by two members of the House of Representatives, in just a moment.