The trucking company involved in a devastating big-rig collision with an Amtrak passenger train was cited for 17 maintenance violations in 24 months, an online check of safety records showed Sunday.

Details also began to emerge about victims in the crash, including an assistant conductor from Elk Grove who was injured.

Six people were declared dead after a driver working for John Davis Trucking hit his brakes, then skidded 320 feet before slamming into Amtrak's California Zephyr at 11:25 a.m. Friday at a crossing in a remote area of Nevada east of Reno.

The truck driver who died in the accident was a 43-year-old man from Winnemucca, Nev. His identity was not released, pending notification of his family.

An Amtrak official said Sunday that five of the passengers on the train's manifest remain unaccounted for.

The Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office, which handled the fatalities from the Churchill County crash site, had not released identities of the victims as of Sunday evening.

But the United Transportation Union identified one of the fatalities on its website as a conductor, UTU Local 166 member Laurette Lee, 68, of South Lake Tahoe.

An assistant conductor – Local 166 member Richard d'Alessandro, 49, of Elk Grove – was injured, according to his niece, Michelle Childs of Elk Grove. She said his right hand was burned and that he is expected to leave the hospital today.

Nine people were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, where a spokeswoman said Sunday that one victim was in critical condition, one was in serious condition and a third was in fair condition. Six others had been discharged.

Injuries suffered in the crash included blunt trauma, fractures, abrasions, lacerations and internal organ injuries, the medical center reported.

In all, about 20 people were taken to area hospitals.

About 194 passengers and 14 crew members were aboard the train, which was headed from Chicago to Emeryville in the Bay Area, according to Amtrak.

The Bee's check of the safety record of John Davis Trucking, based in Battle Mountain, Nev., showed a string of violations, most of them maintenance-related.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration website for the U.S. Department of Transportation showed two violations for unsafe driving in the past 24 months in addition to the 17 maintenance violations.

Four of the 17 violations were related to problems with braking systems. Two other citations involved worn tires.

On Sunday, National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said the NTSB had conducted 19 random roadside inspections of the company's trucks since last September.

That resulted in seven safety citations, but only one of those violations required taking a truck off the road, Weener said.

He said several teams of NTSB investigators will visit the trucking company's offices Tuesday to review its records as well as those of the driver.

Weener noted that all of the traffic signals were functioning correctly at the time of the accident and the train signals should have been visible to the driver from half a mile away.

A full investigation into the cause of the deadly collision could take more than a year, he said.

Executives at John Davis Trucking did not return calls Sunday.

Founded in the 1970s, John Davis Trucking is a family-owned business that specializes in hauling sand, gravel and ore from mines. According to its website, the company owns or leases more than 100 dump trucks.

Over the weekend, as many as 28 people listed on the train's manifest were thought to be missing. But Amtrak officials lowered the number of missing to five Sunday night. Many people who bought tickets might not have boarded the train or may have disembarked at an earlier stop.

The union said many of the injured were trapped inside two burning passenger cars.

Two truck drivers trailing the big rig watched helplessly, along with a train engineer, as the big rig smashed through crossing gates and into two double-decker cars of the Amtrak train at a highway crossing.

The union's national legislative director called the crash a "confirmation that the only safe grade crossing is a grade crossing that has been separated (from roadway traffic) or closed."

"Until we adopt the interstate highway values of no grade crossings, these accidents will continue," said United Transportation Union's director James Stem.

Amtrak reported that family members with inquiries can call (800) 523-9101 for information.

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Call The Bee's Loretta Kalb, (916) 321-1073. The Bee's Rick Daysog contributed to this report.

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