US police arrested a suspect for murder after 10 people were killed today when two commuter trains collided after one hit a car left on the tracks by a suicidal man. The man allegedly jumped out of the car in Glendale, California, just before impact after apparently changing his mind. At least 89 people were rushed to hospital as hundreds of rescuers and convoys of ambulances flooded the crash scene. Some 200 people, mostly walking injured, were examined by medical staff at the scene as they prioritised treatment for the wounded, firefighters said. ``This whole incident was started by a deranged individual who was suicidal,'' he said announcing that the depressed driver, identified as Juan Manuel Alvarez, 26, was unhurt and was in custody. Rescuers picked through the mangled wreckage of the trains that collided just after 6am (0100 AEDT) after one of them derailed as it ploughed into the abandoned vehicle on a suburban Los Angeles line. Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams told reporters the probe into the accident had turned into a homicide case. Advertisement AdvertisementThe police chief said Alvarez was on suicide watch but that he has been talking to investigators. ``He has been cooperative and he has talked to our investigators,'' Adams said, adding that ``his demeanour is distraught, remorseful, but cooperative''. The driver was expected to be charged with murder, police said. Adams said Alvarez would likely face up to 10 counts of murder. The driver allegedly manoeuvred his Jeep onto the tracks, where it became stuck, and waited for a train to end his life, according to Adams and other police officials. ``He was intent at that time on taking his own life but changed his mind,'' Adams told reporters. ``He exited the vehicle and stood by as a southbound Metrolink train struck his vehicle, causing the train to derail and strike the northbound train,'' the police chief said. After hitting the car, the packed rush-hour train, which was bound for Los Angeles' Union Station, jumped its tracks and jack-knifed into the path of an oncoming commuter train heading in the opposite direction. One of the stricken trains then side-swiped a stationary freight train that was parked on a side-track in the area, knocking it over, officials said. ``It sounded like thunder,'' said Karen Mendoza, an employee at a nearby wholesale store who called emergency services when she heard the accident. Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn said: ``It's actually a miracle that more people didn't die.'' Accused ... Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, of Compton, who parked his sport utility vehicle on the tracks. Some passengers had to be cut from the wreckage, which was strewn over a wide area, while others were forced to jump to safety from the burning upper decks of railway carriages that caught fire in the impact. Passengers were tossed around the inside of their trains and some had to jump from the upper decks of the wreckage, eyewitnesses told reporters. Most of the injuries suffered by victims were ``crush-type'' wounds similar to those that occur in car crashes, said Carol Meyer of the Los Angeles County emergency medical services. Many of the patients had head, chest and abdominal injuries, she added. The Los Angeles Police Department declared a citywide tactical alert that allows commanders to keep officers on the job beyond the end of their shifts, in order to help with the rescue and crowd control operations. ``You don't put your car on the track and put yourself in harm's way and all these passengers in harm's way,'' said Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, one of whose deputies was among the dead. ``This is a complete outrage.''
