Husband Sees Train Kill Woman, 70 : Tragedy: Her spouse, 83, crossed first. He urged her to hurry across tracks, he said. But she may not have heard.

DANA POINT —  As her husband watched in horror, a 70-year-old San Clemente woman was struck and killed by a southbound passenger train Saturday afternoon as she crossed railroad tracks on her daily walk.

Esther Walocha, who was unable to get out of the train’s path despite her 83-year-old husband’s urgent pleas to hurry across the tracks, was sent hurtling 25 feet through the air and died at the scene near Palisades Drive in the Capistrano Beach section of the city, authorities said.

“I was already on the other side when I saw the train coming, so I said to Esther, ‘C’mon, the train is coming,’ ” said Henryk Walocha, a retired civil engineer.

“But she continued to walk across the tracks. If she would have jumped, she would have made it.

“I should have pulled her across the tracks. I should have run and saved her life,” he added.

“I can’t believe this happened.”

The engineer of the southbound San Diegan 774 saw the woman, blew his horn and applied the brakes, but could not stop in time, said Lt. Jay Mendez of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

No one aboard the train was injured in the 12:18 p.m. accident, which delayed the train for about an hour, authorities said.

“The engineer said it was a glancing blow, just enough to push her off, so it seems like she almost made it across,” said Mendez.

Esther Walocha, who was wearing a scarf around her head, may not have realized how close the approaching train was, her husband said.

However, police said the woman was listening to music through the headphones of a radio or cassette player.

The couple were not using a nearby pedestrian bridge that spans Coast Highway and the tracks because it was out of their way and elevated, Walocha said. Though the tracks are fenced in to deter pedestrian traffic, holes are commonly cut in the fences by people seeking shortcuts across the tracks, said Dana Point Councilwoman Karen Lloreda, who called the accident “very tragic.”

“Probably the greatest problem is that (the pedestrian bridge) it doesn’t get used as often as it should,” said Lloreda, who represents the Capistrano Beach area. “People see how many stairs there are and the automatic reaction is to avoid it.”

Esther Walocha was a retired hair stylist who had been married to Henryk Walocha for 33 years.

She was born in San Pedro and had lived in San Clemente with her husband for the past 20 years.

“She was a lovely girl, a very good-hearted person who would help anybody,” said Henryk Walocha. “Whenever the neighbors went on vacations, she took care of the animals and she loved to feed the hungry cats at the harbor.”

The couple, who have been retired for the last 12 years, have no children. In addition to her husband, Esther Walocha is survived by relatives in Los Angeles.

An autopsy is scheduled for today.