Friday’s two-train collision killed 25 people and injured more than 130 others near Los Angeles after an engineer failed to heed a stop signal, a spokeswoman for Metrolink commuter trains told CNN. The engineer was guiding the Metrolink train that slammed head-on into a freight train and is not believed to have survived, Metrolink spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said.

“It was human error,” Tyrrell said, adding this was Metrolink’s belief “barring any new information” from an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The crash occurred about 4:30 p.m. PT Friday in Chatsworth, a northwest Los Angeles suburb. The Metrolink train had about 220 passengers and two crew members on board at the time.

Forty-five of the injured were in critical condition, with 40 flown to hospitals. Another 50 had minor injuries, and 40 others were treated at the crash site but transported to hospitals for evaluation.

“It was like running into a brick wall at 60 miles an hour,” an injured passenger told CNN affiliate KABC.

In the minutes after the crash, passers-by joined emergency personnel in an effort to free passengers from the wreckage.

On Saturday afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the search of the wreckage had finished. Earlier in the day, authorities were picking through the wreckage and freeing trapped bodies.

Ed Winter, assistant chief of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, told reporters two bodies — both of females — had yet to be identified. If the females had carried identification, it probably was lost in the crash, he said.

As of 9 a.m. PT Saturday, authorities had been able to notify relatives of eight victims, he said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the crash site on Saturday, telling reporters it was “one of the worst train accidents in modern history in California.”

The NTSB will make a final determination of the crash’s cause. Higgins, the agency’s spokeswoman, said data recorders have been recovered from both trains, along with a video recorder from the freight train.

(LINK to CNN)