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Washington track accident kills 2 veteran safety workers

26 January 2010 21:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Two veteran Metro workers were struck and killed by a maintenance truck on a track Tuesday, the latest in a string of fatalities since last year in the Washington area’s transit system, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.

Jeff Garrard, 49, and Sung Oh, 68, were installing safety equipment on a track that was closed to regular service for the night when they were hit. One of them died at the scene, a few blocks from the Rockville Metro Station, and the other on the way to a hospital.

Metro says both men lived in Montgomery County, Md., and were automatic train control technicians. They were hit by a large truck equipped to drive on the track when electricity is shut down.

Garrard, of Clarksburg, had worked for Metro since 1990, and Oh had worked there since 1998.

The Metro system, which extends into the suburbs to link the capital with neighboring areas of Maryland and Virginia, has seen a series of fatal accidents and mishaps since last year. The worst was a June crash that killed eight passengers and the train operator. Two other workers were killed in separate accidents last year.