4 Victims of Train-Car Collision Identified

The four victims killed in a collision Friday between a car and a train in Chatsworth were identified Saturday as Canoga Park High School students.

The dead students, all residents of Canoga Park, were Troung Lam, 17; Quang Lam, 18; Long Nguyen, 16, and Vinh Vo, 17, Los Angeles County coroner’s officials said.

A passenger train struck a car occupied by the youths Friday as the vehicle passed through a railroad crossing on Lassen Street, a block west of Canoga Avenue, police said. Witnesses said the car apparently was trying to beat the train to the crossing, and that the car’s driver ignored flashing red lights and swerved around two cars that had stopped at the crossing.

Troung Lam, Quang Lam and Nguyen were pronounced dead at the scene. Vo died Friday about 10 p.m. after surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, the coroner’s office said.

The impact of the crash threw the teen-agers from the car, which was smashed nearly beyond recognition, officials said. The train was loaded with passengers heading toward Northern California and Seattle for the Christmas holidays, officials said.