MOUNTAIN TRAGEDY THREE JPL WORKERS KILLED WHEN VAN TUMBLES OFF ROAD.

Byline: Naush Boghossian and Gene Maddaus Staff Writers

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST - Three Jet Propulsion Laboratory workers were killed and seven others were injured when the car-pool van taking them to work veered off a foggy mountain road and tumbled hundreds of feet into a canyon.

Jane Galloway, 49; Kerri Agey, 48; and Dorothy Forks, 53, were all office workers at JPL's Pasadena-area facility, which manages space missions from the Mars rovers to the Cassini interplanetary probe.

``It takes all kinds of people to explore the solar system. Some of them are engineers, some scientists. But these accomplishments are made possible by the contributions of all of the professionals at JPL. The loss of Dorothy, Jane and Kerri is deeply felt by us all,'' JPL spokesman Blaine Baggett said.

Carrying 10 people, the van had been driving south from the Antelope Valley on winding two-lane Angeles Forest Highway, a popular route for Antelope Valley commuters who work in the Pasadena area.

About 13 miles from its destination at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, it veered off a curve and plunged down a narrow canyon, tumbling 300 to 400 feet to land upright at the brushy bottom.

Another motorist saw the van plunge off the road and drove for help, quickly encountering California Highway Patrol officers waiting for a film crew. CHP officers climbed down the steep slope to reach the crumpled van, whose roof had collapsed from its roll.

Those circumstances saved 20 to 40 minutes in getting rescuers to the crash, officials said.

``As tragic as this is, there is a silver lining at the end of the day: It could have been worse,'' said Art Acevedo, assistant chief of the CHP southern division.

CHP officials said they don't know why the van ran off the road. The weather was foggy and the road damp, but there was no ice on the pavement and visibility was good, officers said.

``That's what our investigation will have to determine,'' said CHP Officer Vince Bell.

About 100 rescue personnel worked with rescue trucks with 1,500 feet of cable to take down and bring up the injured. Rescuers had to cut open the wreckage to reach the victims, who were mostly unconscious.

``It was gruesome. We got lots of trauma in one place,'' said Mike Leum, chief of search and rescue for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. ``But you go into clinical mode. What was so unusual was there were so many victims.''

One woman died when she was thrown from the van and the other two died in the wreckage. Before the CHP officers arrived, an injured passenger tried to climb back up the slope to the road but didn't reach the top.

Helicopters were used to fly out the injured, who were taken to hospitals in Valencia, Mission Hills and Pasadena.

``For the amount of people in that van, we're all real lucky there weren't more people killed,'' said Los Angeles County fire spokesman Mike McCormick.

Forks was an employee in JPL's Human Resources Department, Galloway a manager in the business operations office and Agey an administrator for Wackenhut Security, which works under contract to JPL. Forks had worked at JPL for 14 years, Galloway for 10 years.

``It is a very sad day for all of us,'' Baggett said.

The least seriously injured was Cheryl Allworth, 48, of Rosamond, who was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Medical Center in Valencia, where she was met by her husband.

The other occupants' names were not released immediately. Two were reported hospitalized in critical but stable condition, two in fair condition. The other three were expected to be sent home Wednesday.

Staff writers Kimm Groshong and Sonya Geis contributed to this story. Gene Maddaus can be reached at [phone], Ext. 4444, or by e-mail at gene.maddaus(at)sgvn.com.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Rescue workers carry a JPL worker who was injured Wednesday when a commuter van tumbled over the side of Angeles Forest Highway.

(2 -- color) A Fire Department helicopter airlifts an injured passenger from the van full of JPL commuters that veered off Angeles Forest Highway and plunged 300 to 400 feet down a narrow canyon Wednesday morning. Three died and seven were injured in the crash.

(3) Firefighters help their fellow workers make their way up the mountainside from the crash site back onto the highway.

Walt Mancini/Staff Photographer