WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

Questions still unanswered in Fairfield train accident, Victim misidentified
(Bridgeport-WTNH) _ The lone survivor of the train accident that killed a mother and her three children was misidentified. The survivor is 10-year-old Jose Francisco Urgiles. He remains in a coma. He had been originally identified as 6-year old Angel Urgiles Toledo. Angel died in the accident.

Meantime the accident investigation reveals new information about what happened on the tracks that night, but other questions remain unanswered.
News Channel 8's Ned Berkowitz reports.

Toledo Family (from left): Carlos, age 12; Jose, age 10; Angel, age 6, Julia; Pedro, age 3
Investigators have positively identified all the victims of this tragedy. What they still don't know is why the family was on the tracks and where they were going before it was suddenly cut short.

This tragic accident, which killed four members of the Urgiles family, injured a fifth so horribly his family mistook him for a brother three and a half years younger.

Peter Loverso, Metropolitan Transportation Authority: "The initial investigation was made yesterday by a family member. You must understand it was very traumatic, and quite a bit of trauma to the body, and it was very hard to make an identification."

The event recorder, or "black box", showed the train was travelling 71 mph in a 75 mph zone, and that he followed all procedures properly.

Loverso: "The engineer placed the train into an emergency status, which is automatic application of the brake. It also revealed that the engineer at the same time placed the horn in activation."

Accident scene But investigators still have unanswered questions; why did the family leave the Bridgeport shelter where they were staying, and what were they doing on the tracks?

Loverso: "Maybe by talking to neighbors and friends we'll be able to find that out."

Officials would not confirm published reports that Julia Toledo was mentally ill. Loverso: "I haven't received any information on that, no."

Authorities are still trying to contact Toledo's estranged husband Carlos Urgiles, who returned to Ecuador last year shortly after arriving in Bridgeport with his family.

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