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(The Sarasota Herald-Tribune posted the following Associated Press article by Chelsea J. Carter on its website on April 2.)

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. — Two men working near railroad tracks who may not have heard an approaching Amtrak train were killed by the speeding vehicle, authorities said.

The men were identified as Antonio Almanza, 61, of Los Angeles, and Adam Underwood, 40, of Fountain Valley, said Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Hayward Miller. They were among five workers near a switch box between two sets of tracks. Almanza and Underwood “stepped away from the box” into the path of the train, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

“At this time it is hard to imagine how they did not see or hear the train. It’s under investigation,” Amormino said.

The other three workers were uninjured in Tuesday’s accident.

Both victims were track welders for a company under contract to Metrolink, said Amormino and Sharon Gavin, the regional commuter rail service spokeswoman in Los Angeles. The company’s name is Herzog Contracting, said Metrolink spokesman Francisco Oaxaca.

Messages left after business hours Tuesday at the Pomona and Oceanside offices of Herzog Contracting were not immediately returned.

The Los Angeles-to-San Diego train came to halt about a half-mile from the accident site.

The train dragged one man’s body several hundred feet. The other victim was knocked away from the train.

Investigators from the Sheriff’s Department, Metrolink and Amtrak interviewed the three other workmen, the train crew and Amtrak passengers.

Train traffic in both directions was halted into the evening rush hour, but resumed Tuesday night.

The number of people on the Amtrak train was not known, said Sarah Swain, west region spokeswoman for the national passenger rail service. The passengers were expected to be put aboard another train to complete the trip to San Diego.

Rick Stephens, 43, a cashier at a gas station across the street from the double tracks, said he watched the five workmen walking up and down the tracks, as if inspecting them.

One man appeared to be standing on the tracks and another off to the side. A third man was “whistling, trying to get their attention,” Stephens said, adding he didn’t think he was trying to warn him of the approaching train with its whistle blowing.

Stephens said he tended to some customers and when he came back out, the train had passed.

“After the train was gone, I didn’t see any of them,” Stephens said. “I thought maybe they’d moved on.”

Minutes later, he heard sirens.