Rescue workers separate the Metrolink engine from the passenger car it was wedged into Saturday. (Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)Yi Chao, 72, Simi Valley
A friend took the Cambodian immigrant to his eye doctor appointment in downtown L.A. But he decided to take the train back home.
September 14, 2008
By Ann M. Simmons
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (California, USA)
September 14, 2008
By Ann M. Simmons
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer (California, USA)
A friend drove Yi Chao to his eye doctor appointment Friday in downtown Los Angeles. But Chao decided to take the train back home to Simi Valley, where the 72-year-old Cambodian native lives with his son Kong Chao.
"I called him at 4:21 p.m.," said Kong Chao, 36. "He said he was coming home soon. . . . He was almost there at the station in Simi Valley."
When Kong Chao got home from work, he heard on the radio that a Metrolink train had crashed. His father was still not home.
Late Saturday evening, he still hadn't found his father.
"I called him again, again and again, but there was no answer," said the younger Chao, choking back tears and grappling to find words that he spoke in heavily accented ) English. "I went to Chatsworth High School, where the families were meeting. I try to find out if he is going to hospital."
Kong Chao also said he has called all of his relatives to determine whether they know his father's whereabouts. He said his father was of sound mind and could speak some English.
"He is always talkative," Kong Chao said. "He is happy in his grandson, my son. He is 5. He loves him. His grandson wakes every morning and goes into his room."
On Saturday at about 8.45 p.m., at the urging of a reporter who supplied the phone number, Kong Chao called the county coroner's office, which confirmed that Yi Chao had been killed. His name had been released more than two hours earlier.
"I called him at 4:21 p.m.," said Kong Chao, 36. "He said he was coming home soon. . . . He was almost there at the station in Simi Valley."
When Kong Chao got home from work, he heard on the radio that a Metrolink train had crashed. His father was still not home.
Late Saturday evening, he still hadn't found his father.
"I called him again, again and again, but there was no answer," said the younger Chao, choking back tears and grappling to find words that he spoke in heavily accented ) English. "I went to Chatsworth High School, where the families were meeting. I try to find out if he is going to hospital."
Kong Chao also said he has called all of his relatives to determine whether they know his father's whereabouts. He said his father was of sound mind and could speak some English.
"He is always talkative," Kong Chao said. "He is happy in his grandson, my son. He is 5. He loves him. His grandson wakes every morning and goes into his room."
On Saturday at about 8.45 p.m., at the urging of a reporter who supplied the phone number, Kong Chao called the county coroner's office, which confirmed that Yi Chao had been killed. His name had been released more than two hours earlier.
