Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Van involved in N.B. crash a 'death trap on wheels'
Bathurst High School Phantoms Ford Econoline 350 on the morning of January 12, 2008. Eight people were killed, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms Basketball team.by Richard Foot, Canwest News Service · Jan. 15, 2008
Click here to read article in National Post
This article appeared three days after the Boys in Red tragedy.
BATHURST, N.B. -- The type of passenger van that crashed in New Brunswick on Saturday, killing seven teenagers and a teacher, is considered so unsafe on the road the United States government has banned schools across that country from purchasing the vehicle to transport students.
The Safety Forum, a Washington D.C.-based, consumer consulting group, calls it “a death trap on wheels -- a trap merely waiting an opportunity to spring on unwary passengers and drivers.”
There are no federal regulations in Canada, and no provincial rules in New Brunswick, prohibiting the use of the vehicle by schools.
Wayne Lord, the coach of the Bathurst High School Phantoms basketball team, lost his wife and seven players late Friday night on a dark, slick, snow-covered highway.
Driving home after a game in Moncton, Lord lost control of the van in bad weather, say RCMP investigators. The vehicle “fishtailed” on the two-lane highway, police say, before it skidded into oncoming traffic and was broadsided by a tractor-trailer truck.
The 1997 Ford Club Wagon is one of a handful of 15-passenger van models that the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued four consumer safety advisories about between 2000 and 2005, more than for any other vehicle type.
The U.S. advisories said such vans are prone to fishtailing and are difficult to bring back under control, particularly at high speeds, and especially when the vans are heavily loaded.
Those advisories also warned of a high centre of gravity that shifts dangerously rearward as the van loads are increased, making 15-passenger vans even more prone to deadly rollovers than many SUVs.
It’s not clear if the Bathurst High van rolled over before it was torn apart by the oncoming truck.
The Bathurst High van was carrying 12 of 15 possible passengers, including the driver, when it crashed.
“If you have any loss of control for any reason, it’s very difficult to get the van back under control,” says Jeff Wiggington, a Texas lawyer who has campaigned hard to have the vans removed from U.S. roads.
Because of the weight on the rear axle, says Mr. Wiggington, “the front tires are less responsive than you expect them to be to any steering inputs, so the driver is deceived into steering too much or too little into what happens on the roadway.
“The bottom line is that a minor error often becomes fatal in a 15-passenger van, whereas in most vehicles it is not.”
The four recent NHTSA advisories prompted the U.S. Congress to make it illegal for American schools to buy new, 15-passenger vans for transporting their students.
Although many U.S. states now also prohibit schools from using vans, the vehicles are still legally used by dozens of other organizations, from colleges to nursing homes to church groups.
Transport Canada, which regulates the type of vehicles that can be sold in Canada and issues safety warnings on vehicle defects, has no restrictions on the importation or sale of 15-passenger vans in this country, a spokeswoman for the department said yesterday.
Transport Canada has also issued no safety advisories about 15 passenger vans. However, following a letter sent to the government from the Canadian Standards Association this summer, the department has launched a review of the vans, to decide if they should be subject to the same, stricter safety requirements as regular school buses.
It falls to provincial governments in Canada to regulate what kinds of vehicles schools can legally use to transport their students.
While 15-passenger vans are banned from school use in a few provinces such as Nova Scotia, in most provinces, including New Brunswick, there are no similar restrictions.
The only requirement imposed by New Brunswick and other provinces is that drivers of 15-passenger vans have a Class-4 commercial licence, a higher level of certification than a regular driving licence.
“While driving 15-passenger vans is not always inherently dangerous, there are some situations that can result in erratic vehicle response that an inexperienced driver might not be able to control, and which could result in a collision or rollover,” says a “Safety Information” website maintained by the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Alberta.
John McLaughlin, superintendent of the Bathurst school district, said on Monday he was unaware of any safety concerns surrounding the model of van that Bathurst High had used for years before it was destroyed in Friday’s tragedy.
The Writing Is On The Wall: Ford Replaces E-Series, the same van in which Boys in Red were killed, with Ford Transit
A sentimental look of Ford's latest replacement for 15 passenger Death Traps. Could it be possible that they realize the writing is on the wall?
March 2007 Abbotsford Crash Called for 15 Passenger Van Ban for Migrant Workers
The 15 passenger van involved in the March 2007 Abbotsford, BC tragedy that killed three migrant workers.
2007 GMC Savanna 15 passenger van in which 10 migrant workers, the majority from Peru, were killed on Monday evening, February 6, 2012 in Hampstead, Ontario. The driver of the truck which collided with the van was also killed.
Bathurst High School Phantoms Ford Econoline 350 on the morning of January 12, 2008. Eight people were killed, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms Basketball team.
This article appeared on February 7, 2008, less than one month after the death of our sons in the Boys in Red tragedy.Click here to read WorkSafe BC Accident Report, March 2008.
The British Columbia Federation of Labour is calling for a ban on 15-passenger vans that are often used to transport farm workers.
Click here to read original article on the CBC website
The request comes after a WorkSafeBC investigation suggested a wide range of safety violations contributed to a deadly van crash in Abbotsford, B.C., in March 2007 that killed three farm workers and injured 14 others.
Passenger overloading, poor tire maintenance, the lack of seatbelts, inadequate driver qualification, road conditions and vehicle instability all played a role in the accident, WorkSafeBC said in a report released Thursday.
The contents of the report is proof that the safety of farm workers is being ignored, said B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair.
"They are they are riding to work in death traps,'' he said.
B.C. Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon reacted by promising a safety crackdown when the farming season gets underway this spring.
"Our vehicle inspectors will be out there targeting this sector again,'' he said.
WorkSafeBC said the van, owned by RHA Enterprises, had numerous problems.
The report found there were only two seatbelts in the van, and some of the passengers were ejected when the vehicle flipped onto the median. It also found the 15-passenger van was carrying 17 people at the time of the crash.
"The driver of the van held a B.C. Class 5 driver's licence; however the Motor Vehicle Act requires a commercial Class 4 licence to operate a commercial vehicle transporting more than 10, but fewer than 25 workers," said the report.
The report said the following factors contributed to the loss of vehicle control:
"Poor visibility and the wet road and may have caused the driver … to steer into the shoulder of the highway."
"Improperly inflated tires, with poor tread on the front tires may have permitted the passenger van to hydroplane on the wet road."
"The driver of the passenger van lacked adequate knowledge and training to safely operate a 15-passenger vehicle in adverse conditions."
"The risk of rollover for 15-passenger van increases when there are more than 10 occupants because the centre of gravity shifts towards the rear of the van."
Roberta Ellis, the vice-president of the policy, investigations and review division of WorkSafeBC, said they are considering a penalty against the labour contractor who employed and transported the workers to farms in the Fraser Valley.
"The law allows for an administrative penalty of up to half-a-million dollars and so that's the next stage for us. Orders are issued to the employer, the employer is advised the officer is recommending a penalty," said Ellis.
The employer now has 70 days to file an appeal, said Ellis.
The report has also been submitted to the B.C. coroner's office, which is expected to conduct its own inquest later this year. The case would then be turned over to police and the Crown to conduct their own investigation, which could result in criminal charges.
Van was carrying farm workers
The 15-passenger van owned by RHA Enterprises Ltd was carrying 16 farm workers plus the driver when it crashed on Highway 1 in Abbotsford during the early hours of March 7, 2007. The workers were heading east on Highway 1 toward Chilliwack.
"The vehicle collided with two transport trucks, rolled and landed on its roof on the highway median. It was raining heavily at the time, visibility was poor, and the roads were very wet," said the report.
Amarjit Kaur Bal, Sarabjit Kaur Sidhu and Sukhwinder Kaur Punia all died. The 14 others in the van were injured, some of them seriously.
Most of the victims, whose ages ranged from the teens to over 50, were Indo-Canadian immigrants employed by the labour contractor on a casual basis to work on various Fraser Valley farms.
The crash prompted the provincial government to resume random safety checks of vehicles carrying farm workers.
In 2001, the then newly elected Liberal government cancelled a program that routinely inspected the vans.
At least seven people have died and at least 34 have been injured in accidents involving the transportation of farm workers in B.C. since that time.
National Post: Families of Hampstead, Ontario, crash victims hire lawyer to probe van
By Natalie Stechyson
A lawyer representing the families of four of the victims of the crash Monday that claimed 11 lives in southwestern Ontario says he’ll explore whether the van the men were riding in had anything to do with the tragic outcome.
Click here to read original article in National Post
“We will be filing the paperwork with the (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) and the police to get more details as to what happened and to explore the liability situation,” Toronto lawyer Juan Carranza told Postmedia News on Thursday.
“It may be with the van, if there’s a product liability with the van.”
Eleven people died as a result of Monday’s crash after a truck slammed into a 15-passenger van at an intersection near the tiny hamlet of Hampstead.
Ontario Provincial Police said Wednesday the van failed to stop at a stop sign. The truck had the right of way.
All of the 10 van victims, who hailed from Peru, were migrant workers who were leaving a shift at a farm where they had been vaccinating chickens. Three men survived the crash and remain in hospital.
The lawyer stressed there is no evidence of any liability yet and that he’s still in the information-gathering stage of legal proceedings. Much of the work will involve making sure the families get whatever claims to which they’re entitled, Carranza said.
He’s representing the families of four cousins who perished in Monday’s crash but he declined to give their names.
The mothers of two boys who were killed in a passenger-van crash in New Brunswick four years ago have called this week’s accident further proof that 15-passenger vans are “death traps.”
Daniel Hains and Javier Acevedo were 17 when they were killed in a 15-passenger van crash in Bathurst, N.B., on Jan. 12, 2008. The crash killed seven high school basketball players and one adult.
Their mothers have been campaigning since then to educate people about this type of van, which they say is unfit for passenger transportation.
In June 2010, the federal government announced that Transport Canada would review the safety standards applicable to 15-passenger vans.
Results from the final phase of testing are expected in the next month.
The lawyer, Mr. Carranza, this week visited Juan Ariza, 35 — one of the three survivors of Monday’s crash — at the London Health Sciences Centre, where he remains in critical condition.
Mr. Ariza is in a lot of pain, physically and mentally, Mr. Carranza said. He has broken bones and lacerations to his liver and spleen.
The accident happened after Mr. Ariza’s first day of work, Mr. Carranza said, and the young man had only been living in Canada for three days. Some of the other victims had only been in Canada for a very short time as well, Mr. Carranza said.
“He seemed to be overwhelmed. Everything that’s been happening — the loss of relatives in this accident,” Mr. Carranza said.
Mr. Ariza was related to most of the victims, Mr. Carranza said, but he wasn’t positive of the exact relationship beyond the fact they were members of an extended family.
The families of the victims are in shock, Mr. Carranza said.
“This is tragic news for them. Their world is upside down,” Mr. Carranza said.
“If you can imagine, these were the main breadwinners for the families, and they’ve been tragically lost thousands of kilometres away. There’s significant emotional trauma for the wives and children and other relatives.”
The families of the migrant workers who died and the workers in hospital will have all expenses covered by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, Greg Dennis, a spokesman for the Ontario minister of labour, said in an email.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Canadian Press: NB Energy and Utilities Board Will Hold Public Hearings into 15 Passenger Van Permit Application by PEI Company
2007 GMC Savanna 15 passenger van in which 10 migrant workers from Peru were killed on Monday evening, February 6, 2012 in Hampstead, Ontario. The driver of the truck which collided with the van was also killed.
Bathurst High School Phantoms Ford Econoline 350 on the morning of January 12, 2008. Eight people were killed, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms Basketball team.Feb 07 2012 17:20:00 - Source: CP [The Canadian Press]
Moms of teens killed in New Brunswick crash renew call to ban 15 passenger vans
BATHURST, N.B. _ Two women whose sons were killed in a 15-passenger van crash four years ago in New Brunswick say the horrific collision in Ontario that killed 11 people reinforces their belief that the large vehicles are ``death traps.''
Isabelle Hains and Ana Acevedo issued a statement Tuesday saying the vans offer no protection to passengers because they were originally designed to carry cargo, not people.
``It scares me that these vehicles are still on the road and that the government doesn't take the initiative to ban these vehicles because they are death traps,'' Hains said in an interview.
``There were a lot of things that went through my mind last night; the memory and the loss of my son, and the boys, and other families that lost their children in 15-passenger vans.''
Hains's 17-year-old son Daniel was among seven high school basketball players killed in January 2008 when the 15-passenger Ford Econoline they were in collided with a transport truck on a slushy highway near Bathurst. Acevedo's 17-year-old son Javier also died in the crash, as did the wife of the team's coach.
Nova Scotia banned the use of 15-passenger vans for public school students before the Bathurst crash. New Brunswick and Quebec followed suit afterward.
In 2010, the federal government ordered a safety review of 15-passenger vans after New Brunswick NDP MP Yvon Godin introduced a private member's bill that would have made it illegal to transport students in vans with more than 10 and fewer than 17 seats.
The Transport Canada review has yet to be completed, Hains said.
It includes an assessment of the safety, stability and braking ability of 15-passenger vans and another category of vehicle called multi-function activity buses.
Hains said the big vans remain popular with daycare centres, youth groups, agricultural workers and shuttle services because they offer a cheaper alternative to a regular school bus.
``(But) they don't have the same protection as the yellow school buses or multi-function activity buses,'' she said. ``They are made like a tin can. When there's any intrusion or rollover, there's no protection for the occupants.''
Multi-function activity buses look like a regular van at the front, but the passenger compartment is the same as a regular school bus.
Typically, they can carry between 14 and 24 passengers.
``I would like the public to be aware that there are alternative vehicles out there,'' Hains said.
In August 2008, the Canadian Standards Association announced new voluntary construction standards for multi-function buses, which include requirements for joint strength, crashworthiness, rollover protection, emergency exits and numerous safety features.
At the time, the association said the new class of buses are intended to be used as a ``safer alternative'' to vehicles not classified as a school bus but are still used to transport groups of school-aged passengers.
Large passenger vans have been involved in a number of serious accidents in the past five years.
In March 2007, a van carrying farm workers overturned on a stretch of highway in Abbotsford, B.C., with 17 people on board.
Three died and the remaining 14 were injured.
On Feb. 3, 2011, a 21-year-old man died in a rollover accident involving a passenger van near Trois-Rivieres, Que. The van was carrying 13 passengers who all worked in the poultry industry.
Six days later, five young men from Quebec died after a passenger van collided with a school bus in Ste-Genevieve de Berthier, Que.
None of the 12 students on the school bus was seriously injured.
Only two months later, in April 2011, one person died and seven others injured when a passenger van overturned on Highway 20 near Montmagny, Que.
The crash Monday near Hampstead, Ont., claimed the lives of 10 farm workers and the driver of a flatbed truck that collided with the van, a
2007 GMC Savanna. Three in the van survived.
Hains and her advocacy group are trying to stop a P.E.I.-based company from using 15-passenger vans to shuttle post-secondary students from Charlottetown to schools in New Brunswick.
Hains said the group is urging New Brunswick's Energy and Utilities Board to reject the permit sought by Advanced Shuttle Service Ltd., based in Summerside, P.E.I.
Calls to the company were not returned.
Dave Young, a spokesman for the board, said there will be public hearings, but he stressed that the agency is not a safety regulator.
However, he said the provincial act that governs the board's decisions says the board must consider whether granting a permit would be ``detrimental to the users of public transportation services.''
-- By Michael MacDonald in Halifax
Visit thecanadianpress.com for more services from The Canadian Press, Canada's trusted news leader.
La PRESS: TIME BOMBS - Des bombes à retardement
2007 GMC Savanna 15 passenger van in which 10 migrant workers from Peru were killed on Monday evening, February 6, 2012 in Hampstead, Ontario. The driver of the truck which collided with the van was also killed.
Bathurst High School Phantoms Ford Econoline 350 on the morning of January 12, 2008. Eight people were killed, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms Basketball team.Par / by Marc-Antoine Charette
The author is an administrator at a summer camp where he has had occasion to drive 15 passenger vans. / L'auteur est administrateur dans des camps de vacances, où il conduit occasionnellement des minibus.
Click here to read original article on LaPress.ca / Cliquez ici pour voir l'article originale sur laPresse.ca
Je me suis levé mardi matin en apprenant, comme bon nombre de Québécois, la mort tragique de 11 personnes dans un accident de la route à Hampstead, en Ontario.
Comme beaucoup de gens, je me suis rappelé la tragédie de Bathurst, au Nouveau-Brunswick, où sept étudiants et un professeur avaient aussi perdu la vie dans une fourgonnette. D'autres, comme moi, se souviendront peut-être de l'accident survenu à Sainte-Geneviève-de-Berthier, dans Lanaudière, il y a près d'un an, où cinq personnes ont succombé. Je vous laisse deviner quel genre de véhicule les transportait...
Les fourgonnettes de transport à 15 places sont idéales. Elles ne sont pas chères (les prix commencent à moins de 30 000$), peu encombrantes et faciles à manoeuvrer. Le problème, c'est que ces véhicules n'ont pas été conçus pour le transport de personnes. Ce sont des fourgonnettes de transport de matériel maladroitement recyclées en minibus. Leur pare-brise n'est pas assez solide pour résister à un impact, laissant très peu de chance de survie aux passagers lors d'une collision. La distance entre les roues de l'avant et de l'arrière du véhicule et le déplacement du centre de gravité que cela provoque peuvent faire déraper ces simili-autobus à tout moment, surtout lorsque le véhicule transporte un grand nombre de personnes.
Cela en fait des véhicules très peu recommandables lorsque la route est dégagée, et tout simplement à proscrire sur des routes enneigées, mouillées ou glacées.
Pourquoi donc transporter des vies humaines dans de telles bombes à retardement?
La Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec a bien décrété ces véhicules comme étant des minibus, et exige de leurs chauffeurs de détenir un permis de classe 4B. Pourtant, on voit mal quelqu'un échouer «l'examen» théorique lorsqu'il remplit toutes les conditions d'admissibilité. Ainsi, toute personne qui possède un permis de conduire régulier depuis plus d'un an et qui se soumet au test visuel et médical peut conduire un véhicule du genre, sans examen pratique et avec aucune expérience de conduite.
Québec a interdit l'utilisation de tels véhicules pour le transport d'écoliers. Mais il ne fait que reporter les risques d'accident à la saison estivale. Un très grand nombre de camps de vacances, de camps de jour et de centres de répit possèdent ces véhicules. Les enfants, qui statistiquement survivent moins aux accidents de la route, y sont entassés avec leurs bagages pendant que des moniteurs, souvent sans réelle expérience, se retrouvent derrière le volant.
Le comble: vous pouvez même en louer un à petit prix dans tout bon centre de location automobile sans jamais en avoir piloté auparavant! Je vous laisse imaginer le nombre d'équipes sportives, théâtrales, sociales et autres qui transportent tous leurs jeunes ainsi.
Québec doit légiférer. Au mieux, il pourrait emboîter le pas au Nouveau-Brunswick et bannir leur utilisation sur les routes. Moins drastiquement, il pourrait suivre les recommandations de toute bonne compagnie d'assurance automobile qui se respecte et proscrire l'utilisation du banc de quatre passagers à l'arrière, réduisant le nombre de passagers maximal à 11 et réduisant de beaucoup la charge du véhicule. Sinon, il faudrait au moins obliger tous les conducteurs de fourgonnettes d'aussi longue taille dédiées au transport de personnes à se soumettre à un examen de conduite à défaut de les obliger à suivre un cours pratique.
Je ne sais pas encore combien de morts les Québécois et Canadiens devront subir avant que les gouvernements ne prennent les mesures nécessaires. Lorsqu'on les compare à des bombes à retardement, c'est que ces véhicules-là sont aussi dangereux pour leurs passagers que pour tous les autres usagers de la route.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Deadly Ontario 15 passenger van tragedy the 4th in Canada in 12 months involving agricultural labourers
For anyone who says that this tragedy in Ontario is something that doesn't happen very often, we'd like to everyone know that it's the fourth such accident this year involving agricultural labourers, three of them in the province of Quebec.
Interestingly, in Quebec, the police and the media use the word "mini-bus" to describe 15 passenger vans, so it doesn't always jump out at the casual observer that here is ANOTHER fatal 15 passenger van collision in Canada involving agricultural labourers. If these were children, 15 passenger vans would be hauled off the road permanently!!
February 2, 2011
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec
One man was killed after being trapped under a 15 passenger van in Trois Rivieres, Quebec. In the article, they describe the vehicle as a "bus" but is really a 15 passenger van. We frequently see the use of the term "mini-bus" to describe 15 passenger vans in Quebec, which is then used literally by English press to mean "mini-bus" or bus when it is actually at 15 passenger van.
Click here to read article on CBC website.
February 10, 2011
Berthierville, Quebec
Five agricultural workers from Quebec who were on their way home from the night shift at a poultry processing plant were killed in this 15 passenger van collision with a Yellow School Bus in Berthierville, Quebec.
Read article on CBC news website
April 19, 2011
Mont Mangy, Quebec
One dead, 3 seriously injured. Again, you see the word "mini-bus" used to describe a 15 passenger van in french. In this case, the van was loaded with Guatemalan migrant labourers on their way home from a shift at the poultry processing plant where they were employed.
Click here to read article on Radio Canada (French CBC) website
11 Killed in Ontario: Another Reason To Stop Advanced Shuttle Ltd. From Using Deadly 15 Passenger Vans to Transport Students in PEI and NB
Unidentified 15 passenger van in which 10 migrant workers were killed on Monday evening, February 6, 2012. The driver of the truck which collided with the van was also killed.
Bathurst High School Phantoms Ford Econoline 350 on the morning of January 12, 2008. Eight people were killed, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms Basketball team.How many more terrible 15 passenger van collisions and deaths do we have to witness before our governments, municipal, provincial and federal, wake up to the reality that 15 passenger vans are death traps that should not be used to transport human beings?
In New Brunswick, we were witness to one of the worst 15 passenger van collisions in the country's history when eight people, including seven members of the Bathurst High School Phantoms basketball team, were killed on January 12, 2008. In the four years that have passed since the Boys in Red Tragedy, it seems we have learned absolutely nothing from their deaths. In New Brunswick, a company called Advanced Shuttle Services Ltd. that is based in Prince Edward Island, has applied to the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board to use 15 passenger vans to transport students to and from university in PEI and New Brunswick.
Today, February 7, 2012, the Energy and Utilities Board will meet to discuss the application from Advanced Shuttle Services Ltd. for a permit to use 15 passenger vans to transport students from Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
As parents of two boys who were killed in the Boys in Red tragedy, we have made our objections known in a letter to the Board ( http://blog.vanangels.ca/2012/01/new-brunswick-energy-and-utilities.html ) which gives our reasons for objecting to the use of deadly 15 passenger vans to transport human beings.
Even though the time has passed for the public to make a formal objections, you can call the Energy and Utilities Board today and let them know that you do not want deadly 15 passenger vans transporting students in New Brunswick. Call now Telephone (506) 658-2504 Toll-Free: 1-866-766-2782.
Yesterday's terrible tragedy in Ontario is further proof that 15 passenger vans are death traps that should not be used to transport human beings. Passengers in 15 seat vans have no protection because these vans were not designed to carry human beings. Passengers in a 15 seat van collision are ejected from the vans and killed when they suffer massive injuries.
There is a safe, Canadian Standards Association (CSA) approved alternative to 15 passenger vans. It is called the Multi Function Activity Bus and there is no reason why, in this country, after so many tragic deaths in 15 passenger vans, that we are still talking about this issue today.
Call the Energy and Utilities Board TODAY. Here is their contact information
Raymond Gorman Q.C. Chairman
Energy and Utilities Board
P.O. Box 5001
15 Market Square, Suite 1400
Saint John, NB
E2L 4Y9
Via email: raymond.gorman@nbeub.ca, david.keenan@nbeub.ca, Lorraine.Legere@nbeub.ca
Telephone (506) 658-2504 Toll-Free: 1-866-766-2782
11 die in 15 passenger van collision in Ontario: 10 migrant workers in van, 1 in truck
Ontario crash kills 11, including migrant workers
Flatbed collides with van in Hampstead, Ont., 23 km northeast of Stratford
Click here to read original article on CBC
A collision west of Waterloo, Ont., has killed 11 people — including migrant workers — in what one veteran police officer described as the worst crash he has seen in nearly 30 years on the job.
The crash happened in the hamlet of Hampstead shortly before 5 p.m. ET when a flatbed truck ollided with a van at Perth County Road 107 and Line 47, about 20 kilometres northeast of Stratford, Ont.
Ten people in the van were killed as well as the driver of the truck, making it the worst crash in the province in at least a decade.
One survivor was airlifted to hospital in Hamilton with life-threatening injuries, while two others were being treated for serious injuries in Stratford.
"I've been on the job for 28 years and I've never seen anything quite like this collision tonight," OPP Insp. Steve Porter said at news conference near the site of the crash Monday evening.
He said a number of "critical incident stress people" were at the scene to help emergency workers cope with the horrific nature of the crash.
The crash propelled the van between 20 and 30 metres from the intersection, CBC's Steven D'Souza reported.
Elizabeth Cooper, an editor with ionStratford.ca who was at the site of the crash, said the truck had flipped over onto its roof. She described the passenger van as "almost unrecognizable," lying against a farmhouse near the intersection.
Cooper said there was no snow in the area and the sky was clear, suggesting that visibility was good at the time of the crash.
Police were told the van was carrying a group of migrant workers, Porter said, but there were no details on where they were from. There are reports the crew had just left a nearby poultry farm.
A number of the victims spoke Spanish, D'Souza said, which made it difficult for emergency workers to communicate with them.
The van had been travelling westbound on Line 47, which is controlled by a stop sign at the intersection, when it collided with a southbound transport truck, Porter said.
Investigators believe driver error was behind the crash, OPP Sgt. David Rektor said, but offered no other details.
Jared Martin, chief executive of Speedy Transport, released a statement saying one of its truck drivers was killed in the crash but he did not release the driver's name.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with our driver’s family and the families of the other victims involved in this horrible tragedy," Martin said.
"This is the first fatality we’ve experienced on the road since inception," he said.
Collision at stop sign
Martin said he was told by provincial police that the van failed to stop at the stop sign and was hit by the Speedy Transport vehicle.
Police said they believe 13 people were in the van, which had a capacity of up to 15 passengers.
The deadly crash drew a statement of sympathy from Premier Dalton McGuinty late Monday night.
"On behalf of 13 million Ontarians, I want to offer our deepest condolences to those who lost a loved one and to offer our most sincere prayers for those taken to hospital," said McGuinty, who thanked emergency workers and investigators who responded to the collision.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union also offered its condolences to the families of the victims and called for a thorough probe into the cause of the crash.
"The safe transportation of agriculture workers has always been a critical issue, and we must expect a relentless investigation into how and why such a tragedy occurred," said UFCW president Wayne Hanley in a statement.
The UFCW noted that more than 20,000 migrants work in the Ontario agriculture sector each season.
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