A train struck a vehicle on tracks between the Southern California cities of Oxnard and Camarillo on Tuesday morning, the passenger rail line Metrolink said.
Emergency personnel treated people on tarps on a road adjacent to the tracks, video from CNN affiliate KABC shows.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene, said Sergio Martinez, a battalion chief for the Oxnard Fire Department. Authorities found him unhurt and took him into custody, Martinez said.
There are more than 30 patients being treated, he said, but he didn’t have information on their conditions.
The train hit the vehicle just before 5:45 a.m., the California Highway Patrol said online. Several cars derailed, and at least one vehicle was said to be “fully engulfed,” the patrol said.
Aerial television crews are filming a scene of devastation. First responders are pushing injured people in stretchers. Some people are lying on the ground, and firefighters have hoses on cars that are off the track. Emergency vehicles dot a long stretch of road.