By The Canadian Press, thecanadianpress.com, Updated: February 7, 2012 5:27 AM
Police look for cause of crash that killed 11
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HAMPSTEAD, Ont. - Ten migrant workers from Peru who died in a horrific crash in southwestern Ontario spent the day vaccinating chickens before the collision.
Albert Burgers owns the farm where they were working Monday before the crash between their van and a flatbed truck in Hampstead, northeast of Stratford. The truck driver also died in the collision.
Burgers says the workers vaccinated more than 16,000 chickens on his farm Monday.
He says some of them had been with the crew for more than 10 years.
The crash scene was cleared by this morning and investigators are trying to determine what caused the collision.
One person from the van was taken to a Hamilton hospital with life-threatening injuries while two others were taken hospital in Stratford with serious injuries.
Based on what police told the CEO of the truck company, Speedy Transport, it appears the van went through a stop sign and was hit by the truck.
The impact of the crash sent the van hurtling across a lawn before smashing into the side of a house with the passenger side ripped nearly clean off.
A woman who lives across from the crash site said she heard a loud bang Monday afternoon and looked outside to see a cloud of dirt rising and the two vehicles coming to a rest.
The neighbour, who didn't want her name used, said her husband ran out to help, but "there was nothing he could do" because the victims were already dead.
He tried to assist one conscious survivor, but couldn't communicate because the survivor spoke no English, she said.
It was the deadliest multi-vehicle crash in Ontario since 1999, when fog near Windsor caused an 87-car pileup that killed eight people.
Canada's worst road accident was in Quebec in October, 1997.
A chartered bus taking a group of seniors on a tour plunged over an embankment near the town of St-Joseph-de-la-Rive, killing 43 of the 48 people on board.
(AM640, The Canadian Press)