Three killed in NASA van plunge (five people trapped)

[Tab]

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Three people died Wednesday when a commuter van from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory plummeted hundreds of feet off a mountain road in the Angeles National Forest, authorities said.

Ten people were in the van, which overturned about 6:35 a.m. PST (9:35 a.m. ET), said John Mancha, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. One of the victims crawled out of the van in an attempt to seek help.

Five people were initially trapped and one person was flung from the vehicle, Mancha said.



More: http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/08/mountain.crash.ap/index.html

[wordout]

1. must've run off the edge of the earth

[Igel]

2. Ha-ha /sarcasm off

I'll have to check to make sure nobody I know was killed.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bemildred]

3. LA Times version:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-120804crash_lat,0,7200878.story?coll=la-home-headlines

It's was a cloudy morning, and people run fast on that road during
commute hours. I would wager it was ice or a wet road that got them.

[Tab]

5. According to the original link...

There was heavy fog in the area and it's a windy road. I couldn't quote the whole thing due to LBN rules, but I get the impression they probably just drove off the road.

Also it's coming from JPL, but it wasn't clear if they were scientists or white collar workers, or bussing back maintenance crews.

[bemildred]

10. I'm pretty sure they were just going to work in the morning. nt

[Trajan]

6. That is a very curvacious road ....

certainly treacherous if wet or icy ...

I used to take that road to Palmdale if the 14 or 15 were closed ...

I know that I would look over the side and imagine would 'could happen' .... if one werent extremely careful ...

MANY have taken the plunge off that road .... beware ...

[haele]

11. There's been light showers in the area for the last few days...

Roads were probably wet and the road oil probably hasn't all washed off yet. And if I remember that area, the roads have pretty steep grades and have quite a few sharp curves.

That's a sad thing.

Haele

[merh]

4. NASA commuter van?

NASA??? :tinfoilhat:

If a list of victims is posted, please advise.

[quoi]

19. a few names from the story

Officials at JPL, which has managed numerous space missions, said six passengers in the van were JPL employees, two were contractors and two were employed by NASA.

The three dead were identified by JPL as Jane Frances Galloway, 49, of Lancaster; Kerri Lynn Agey, 48, of Ontario, and Dorothy Marie Forks, 53, whose hometown was not available, according to the Los Angeles County coroner.

[Liberty Belle]

7. NASA was implicated in one of the voting fraud stories.kick!

Weren't they mentioned by the programmer who posted an affidavit of his confession online a day or so ago?

sounds like someone could be covering their tracks.

[Sideways]

8. Curtis Fenney Yang NASA Connection

Looks like foul play to me.

[AP]

9. ...and tin foil, OFF. That programmer was a current NASA employee who

gave an affadavit regarding his work at a private company before he worked at NASA.

Also, you have the wrong state completely.

And what kind of cover-up is one that tries to take out 10 to get 1 and only gets 3?

Come on people. Don't you read books or go to the movies?

[Liberty Belle]

16. employees could have transferred to a different state.

It wouldn't be the programmer, but perhaps someone who knew about the vote rigging program. The missing link is whether the program was ever actually implemented. Whoever knows that would be a potential target.

[Red State Rebel]

12. Similar incident last month in St. Louis with Boeing workers

Commuter van crossed the center line on one of the bridges into St. Louis from IL. I believe 5 out of 7 passengers was killed. Very tragic.

[cliss]

13. I just found out that our Admin assistant

is the sister-in-law of one of the people in that van. (here in Portland) She just told me her sister in law sat in the front, on the passenger side. Looks like she survived.

Pretty terrible.

[bobthedrummer]

14. Could be Groom Lake (Area 51) workers.

Think about it.

[LeftyMom]

15. Those 10 and 15 passenger vans are dangerous

Since they don't have headrests and many of the positions are lap belt only, they really aren't very safe. If they're going to travel a winding road like that they really ought to stick to smaller vans with better safety features.

[AP]

20. ...and they roll over easily.

[mattclearing]

17. There go Madsen's sources...

:eyes: