LIRR installs fence where teens were killed

Long Island Rail Road workers Thursday began installing security fencing at the site where two young women died after being struck by a train on elevated tracks west of the Copiague train station.

LIRR spokesman Sam Zambuto said the workers were putting up 8-foot tall fences at the base of both sides of the wooded embankments that lead to the elevated tracks to deter anyone from going up to the scene of the fatalities. One fence is 40 feet in length; the other 45-feet.

Zambuto said LIRR workers Thursday placed utility markers for the fencing on both the north and south sides of the tracks. It will be installed and completed Friday.

"It's the Long Island Rail Road's practice to fence off any area of right of way that may become a place where young people visit to memorialize victims of train accidents," he said.

The two young women, Ariana Napolitano and Katherine Sanchez, both 18 and from Copiague, were on the tracks Tuesday about 6:30 p.m. when they were struck and killed by an eastbound LIRR train. It's not clear what the women were doing on the elevated tracks. MTA officials have not released details of the investigation, which is ongoing, Zambuto said.

Napolitano's stepfather, Kevin Urban, said he tried to visit the site but was stopped by MTA police guarding the embankment.

Urban, 53, said he is comforted by the support he and Napolitano's mother, Julie, have been getting from the women's friends.

"I've had so many kids here it's insane," he said from the family's home. "The outpouring is actually very helpful."

Relatives of both of the women, who were close friends, met Thursday afternoon for first time since the deaths, said Sanchez's uncle Rafael Sanchez.

"We haven't seen them since the incident," said Sanchez, adding that during the meeting a lot of tears were shed. "We just went there to give our condolences." The viewing for Ariana Napolitano will be from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Massapequa Funeral Home, 4980 Merrick Rd., Massapequa Park. No services have yet been scheduled. Burial will take place Saturday at St. Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale.

Katherine Sanchez's viewing will be from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday at D'Andrea Brothers Funeral Home, 99 Oak St., Copiague. There will be an additional viewing there from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday. A funeral Mass will be held at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 1 Malloy St., Copiague, followed by burial at Trinity Cemetery in Amityville.

Editor's Note: Newsday initially reported the wrong height for the fence.