Marine Jogging on Tracks Killed by Train : Fatality: Engineer blew whistle but couldn’t stop in time. Why victim apparently couldn’t hear is a mystery.

SAN CLEMENTE —  A Marine jogging along the railroad tracks Wednesday was struck and killed by a train near the San Clemente State Beach campground, park officials said.

The 29-year-old man was heading south, staying close to the railroad tracks to avoid puddles along the way, when an Amtrak passenger train traveling in the same direction hit him at 12:20 p.m. south of the San Clemente State Beach, said Mike Tope, chief ranger of the state parks’ Orange Coast district. The Marine, whose name was withheld pending family notification, was found about 10 feet from the tracks, Tope said.

The victim was airlifted to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, where he later died, Tope said.

Dawn Soper, spokeswoman for Amtrak, said the train engineer blew the whistle and hit the emergency brakes when he saw the jogger, but couldn’t stop in time.

“The individual did cut in front of the train, apparently trying to cross the tracks, and was hit by the cab car,” Soper said.

The train, which was en route to San Diego from Santa Barbara with at least 60 passengers on board, was delayed for 30 minutes as a result of the accident, Soper said. Authorities didn’t know how fast the train had been going, but in general, passenger trains along that route travel at 40 m.p.h.

There was no indication that the Marine had been wearing headphones or “anything that would have prevented him from hearing the train coming,” Tope said.

Information on where the Marine had been stationed was not available Wednesday.

Amtrak officials Wednesday urged pedestrians to stay away from railroad tracks.

“It is no public playground,” Soper said.

On Jan. 21, a 70-year-old woman was struck and killed by a train while crossing the railroad tracks on her daily walk near Palisades Drive in the Capistrano Beach section of Dana Point. Esther Walocha of San Clemente died at the scene.

Her husband, Henryk Walocha, said he was only a few steps away and was urging his wife to hurry when the train hit her.