Driver, five passengers confirmed dead as Ottawa bus, Via train collide

[Penny Lane 8,159]

OTTAWA — Six people have been confirmed dead after a northbound No. 76 double-decker OC Transpo bus and a Via Rail train collided near the Fallowfield station in Barrhaven Wednesday morning.

Fatalities on the scene included the bus driver and four passengers. A fifth passenger later died in hospital.

In total, 31 victims were taken to hospital, 11 in critical condition. Patients from the crash scene were distributed among the Ottawa hospitals, said paramedic chief Anthony DiMonte. Four went to the Queensway-Carleton Hospital, four to the Civic campus of the Ottawa Hospital, six to the General campus and 17 to the Montfort Hospital.

The collision sheared the front off the bus. Eyewitnesses have reported that the bus did not appear to slow down at the crossing.

Robert Kurtenbach was on the top level of the bus on his way to work downtown.

He said the bus had gone about half a kilometre from the Transitway station when suddenly he was aware a train was right in front of the bus.

“The bus didn’t appear to slow down,” he said, and the front end slammed hard into the side of the train. He said the crash ripped up the front of the bus badly.

People screamed, and he was thrown forward and twisted his leg, Kurtenbach said, but he feels he is lucky not to have been hurt worse.

Those at the front were badly hurt, said the badly shaken Kurtenbach, who was waiting for his daughter to taken him home.

“I could see bodies lying there,” inside the bus. He couldn’t estimate the number who seemed badly injured, but it was more than two or three. He couldn’t see the driver.

Witness Mark Cogan told The Canadian Press that the bus drove through the railway safety barriers.

“The guard rails were down,” Cogan said. “The train was going through. I was just looking around watching things happening and notice the bus, the double-decker bus … he just kept going. I thought maybe there was a side way around. But he instantly, he just smoked the train. He went right through the guard rail and just hammered the train. Then it was just mayhem.”

Witness Pascal Lolgis told CP that cars stopped for the train.

“And after that I see the bus came, no brake, no nothing and boom he went into the train like that. He didn’t stop. He must have lost his brakes or something or he had a heart attack or whatever. He just didn’t stop.”

At a press conference at 11:30, city officials said it would be premature to say what happened at the crossing, and had no comments on the bus driver until more information was known.

A study had focused on the Fallowfield crossing recently, but not this one, reporters heard. A contractor for Via maintains the gates at the crossing.

“We consider our crossing safe, or they wouldn’t be there,” Coun. Diane Deans, chair of the Transit Commission, told reporters.

Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada is the lead investigating agency on the crash, with Ottawa police assisting.

OC Transpo general manager John Manconi confirmed the bus involved in the crash was a No. 76 and was heading north on the transitway, parallel to Woodroffe Avenue.

The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, said Manconi, who declined to identify the driver of the bus “until we’ve done all the proper notifications.”

The patients who were taken to the Montfort went aboard an OC Transpo bus full of paramedics and equipment, DiMonte said. They were less seriously injured than the others.

Some injuries were so severe he did not want to describe them even in general terms. “If I could, I’d prefer not to. ... One can assume it’s fairly major trauma.”

None of the city officials would say anything about how the collision happened — that’s a job for the Transportation Safety Board, Bordeleau said.

The train was Via Rail train 51 from Montreal, which had just left the Ottawa station and was pulling into Fallowfield station, officials have confirmed. There were 103 passengers on the train.

All trains in the east-west rail corridor have been cancelled. Meanwhile, worried families gathered at the Nepean Sportsplex hoping for news about the victims.

The City of Ottawa is urging family members to contact the city at 3-1-1.

Via Rail said it would provide comment later Wednesday morning and the city’s Emergency Operations Centre has been activated.

Woodroffe Avenue has been closed between Fallowfield and Hunt Club roads. Ottawa police are directing traffic, and officers off duty Wednesday rushed to assist.

In a joint statement issued about an hour later, Deans and Mayor Jim Watson expressed their condolences to those affected by the tragedy.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones, have been injured or have loved ones who have been injured.”

All available resources are being deployed to ensure that care is being provided to all persons involved at the scene, said the statement.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement of his own: “It is a tragic morning in the Nation’s Capital, as a devastating accident between a bus and train has caused injury and death.

“On behalf of all Canadians, Laureen and I extend our thoughts and prayers to all those affected by this tragedy.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/Multiple+fatalities+train+Transpo+collision/8927263/story.html

Sad day in my hometown today.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Penny Lane

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Sad day in my hometown today.

Sorry to read about this Penny, my heart goes out to the families.

[Canerican 242]

Last time I talked to my Aunt she was an OC Transpo bus driver. She will have surely heard about this

[mota bhai 2,675]

This is what happens when you let socialists run amok and put trains and buses everywhere.

Just say NO to socialism.

[Darnell 8,478]

Smoking and hammering a train. Perhaps that'll become a new hobby there in Ottawa?