Chicago: A tractor trailer rammed into a Chicago Transit Authority train station during the evening rush hour, killing two people and injuring more than a dozen others, authorities said.

Those killed, both women, were apparently walking near the Cermak-Chinatown Red Line station on the city's South Side, Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said. They were dead at the scene, she said.

Twenty-one people were transported to area hospitals yesterday, said fire department spokesman Larry Langford. Eleven were in critical condition, including four children, eight adults were in stable condition and two adults were in good condition.

Workers were searching through wreckage yesterday evening for more injured, Langford said. The truck's driver was extricated from the cab and taken to a hospital, Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said at a news conference.

Witnesses said the truck did not appear to slow down before it plowed into the station. The truck hit pedestrians, then "climbed the stairs" of the station s north stairwell around 5.20 pm, 88Langford said.

Hazardous materials crews were on the scene because the semitrailer leaked fuel, Langford said. Most of those injured were either in the bus shelter underneath the elevated train station or in the station's stairwell, Rodriguez said.
Source : PTI