11 People Dead in Perth County Crash

[jessica_dark]

HAMPSTEAD — It appears that 11 people were killed today when a flatbed truck struck a large passenger van in this hamlet north of Shakespeare.

It is among the worst road fatalities in Canada’s history.

http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/666768--eleven-people-reported-dead-in-horrific-perth-county-crash

..and today was so nice out too. What a shame. My thoughts go out to the families involved.

 

[bigmike]

Also sorry to hear, I hope the familes and loved ones all the best!

 

[STASH]

My God....what can you say to this huh?.........shocking and so sad. Life is pretty unpredictable when this is your moment to be
done here.
Pretty sure none of their families will be coming here but condolences to any who may have know these poor folks.

 

[dj1470]

Condolences.
It's good, though, that this type of thing is a rarity in Canada.
This happens once a week in places like India or Bolivia as buses fall of mountains.

 

[rafterman]

Eleven killed in horrific highway crash.

Damn, guess the Canadian dream didn't quite pan out as hoped for these poor migrant workers.

Kinda of associate this type of tragedy with Texas or California.

http://news.ca.msn.com/canada/police-look-for-cause-of-crash-that-killed-11

By The Canadian Press, thecanadianpress.com, Updated: February 7, 2012 5:27 AM
Police look for cause of crash that killed 11
0You recommend this0%You don't recommend this100%Shared 4 times

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)

 

[Rockslinger]

Condolences to their families and friends.

Apparently, there are 20,000 migrant workers in Ontario doing jobs that no self-respecting Canadian would do because you get your hands dirty.

 

[oil&gas]

Apparently, there are 20,000 migrant workers in Ontario doing jobs that no self-respecting Canadian would do because you get your hands dirty.

And yet a lot of young university graduates would rather stay unemployed until
a job prestigious enough come up. One drug mart I used is staffed with mostly
middle age south Asian migrants. The son of a relative of mine has been jobless
since he completed his business degree almost a year ago. Apparently a bank
tellers job is beneath his qualification so he has chosen to undertake some
sort of 'volunteering' activities in the meantime. Another kid of a friend of mine
ended up going to Seneca (to enroll in some program that requires no more than a
high school diploma to get into) after having spent 5 years already to finish a 4 years
degree on some useless combination of minors in Arts. I have a feeling she will
end up living in her parents home for the rest of her 'career'.

 

[buttercup]

her husband ran out to help, but "there was nothing he could do" because the victims were already dead.

What kind of an appalling shambles do those words conjure up in your imagination?

 

[STASH]

Unfortunately the most of them were from another country. Geez the irony ....go to safe place like Canada and get killed anyway. Like I said if your going.........YOUR GOING !!!

 

[lynxguru]

Condolences to their families and friends.

Apparently, there are 20,000 migrant workers in Ontario doing jobs that no self-respecting Canadian would do because you get your hands dirty.

Feel much for these migrant workers trying to feed their families.
In my area many young people hang around in malls and parks, many of them blacks, making trouble instead learning something and costing us money - and our unemployment rate high. There is something wrong with that so that we have to import temporary workers.

 

[Rockslinger]

Once again, there's talk of abolishing passenger vans.

 

[Aardvark154]

I once saw this exact type of accident happen right in front of me.

Absent minded driver drove right through Stop sign on a Concession Road and got SMASHED by a fully loaded tri-axle dump truck doing 80-90 km/h

The impact was like a bomb going off with bits of the car ending up hundreds of meet from the point of impact.

The driver almost made it through but the dump truck just clipped the BMW 5 series at the rear fender. Spun the car into the ditch, both people dazed with both side windows blown out from their heads hitting them.

I stopped and ran to the car in the ditch and got the concious one to run away and dragged the unconcious passenger out. Car was in flames and billowed black smoke for the 20 minutes it took for the Fire truck to get there.

The driver was so happy and crying that he made it but it was so close! Said he never even noticed the Stop sign nor saw the truck! Turns out, the woman passenger ( she was fine, just a concussion and cut ear) was his girlfriend and NOT his wife. Guy said right there that he was going to get a divorce so he could "start living again" (!) as he sees how close he came to death.

These poor folks thankfully probably never knew what hit them.

Before I witnessed a collision like this as a University Student, I never understood the expression that minutes hang like hours - literally everything seemed like it was in slow motion during the crash.

Once again, there's talk of abolishing passenger vans.

No question that they are unsafe.

 

[night ride]

I just checked out the area on Google streetview. Such a pretty place on a mid-summer afternoon in contrast to the nightime photos of this scene of horror. What a shame.

 

[Questor]

Yes, it is a terrible tragedy for victims and their families.

Apparently, there are 20,000 migrant workers in Ontario doing jobs that no self-respecting Canadian would do because you get your hands dirty.

I don't think that its fair to say self-respecting Canadians won't do dirty jobs. I don't think its true at all. These migrant workers are brought in because Canadian born people won't do it for minimum wages. Anyone here want to work in the fields under the hot sun, bent over all day pulling weeds? Yea, sure tell me about it. I used to walk barefoot 5 miles to school in the winter.

In fact, I'm not even sure these migrant workers get minimum wages. Can anyone confirm this?

And yet a lot of young university graduates would rather stay unemployed until
a job prestigious enough come up. One drug mart I used is staffed with mostly
middle age south Asian migrants. The son of a relative of mine has been jobless
since he completed his business degree almost a year ago. Apparently a bank
tellers job is beneath his qualification so he has chosen to undertake some
sort of 'volunteering' activities in the meantime. Another kid of a friend of mine
ended up going to Seneca (to enroll in some program that requires no more than a
high school diploma to get into) after having spent 5 years already to finish a 4 years
degree on some useless combination of minors in Arts. I have a feeling she will
end up living in her parents home for the rest of her 'career'.

wtf is this going to be? A let's-bash-Canadian-born-youth thread? If you want to spend 4 years getting a business degree and then go work in a donut shop, be my guest. No doubt there are some lazy and entitled people out there, but there are also lots of hard working young people who are willing to work hard to get ahead. I don't know what this has to do with a tragic car accident with a van load of Mexican workers.

 

[whitewaterguy]

Yes, it is a terrible tragedy for victims and their families.

I don't think that its fair to say self-respecting Canadians won't do dirty jobs. I don't think its true at all. These migrant workers are brought in because Canadian born people won't do it for minimum wages. Anyone here want to work in the fields under the hot sun, bent over all day pulling weeds? Yea, sure tell me about it. I used to walk barefoot 5 miles to school in the winter.

In fact, I'm not even sure these migrant workers get minimum wages. Can anyone confirm this?

wtf is this going to be? A let's-bash-Canadian-born-youth thread? If you want to spend 4 years getting a business degree and then go work in a donut shop, be my guest. No doubt there are some lazy and entitled people out there, but there are also lots of hard working young people who are willing to work hard to get ahead. I don't know what this has to do with a tragic car accident with a van load of Mexican workers.

some may get minimum wage but then have rent deducted from their cheques as they are at times house in designated apartment complexes, oftentimes sub standard where the rental fees vastly exceed the quality of the housing..it can be sort of a racket between the agricultural business and the apartment rental people. others who factor into the equation at times are the local medical practitioners who treat these workers. for example..if someone working on a mushroom farm begins suffering bronchial and various other lung debilitating conditions, likely and very possibly brought on by their work environment, the doctors commonly do not provide a diagnosis favouring the health of the worker, rather side with the employer in stating the worker is ok to work, not in anyway at risk of harm in his work environment, nor experiencing any condition related to the workplace. ived seen a pattern in the medical end of things from speaking with some of these workers and its rather disgusting how they are treated by our doctors.

 

[69Shooter]

Once again, there's talk of abolishing passenger vans.

That's absurd! If your in your 20's now I predict that sometime in your lifetime, you will be required to wear a helmet to drive car!

 

[GameBoy27]

OPP confirm that the Transport truck was on a through highway and that the Shuttle Van driver ran a Stop sign.


I am wondering why the knee jerk reaction to banning 15 passenger vans? It seems simply because they carry more people and IF in an accident, that there are more people onboard that could be injured?

Well following that logic, why are 70+ passenger double decker GO Buses used by the Government of Ontario?

Why are school buses STILL not equipped with safety belts?

I really hate this knee jerk reacting to every tragedy with emotions rather than facts.

Passenger vans were never designed to carry 15 people. They were designed to carry cargo but manufacturers thought it would be a good idea to put in a bunch of seats then extend the box and put more in. They do not have any of the reinforcements and safety features that are built into purpose built multi-passenger vehicles.

Most U.S. states and Canadian provinces have already banned them for transporting students. Why, because they're inherently dangerous. I don't think this is a knee jerk reaction.

http://www.15-passengervans.com/uses-of-15-passenger-vans

Would it have made a difference in this crash, hard to say but there's many more where it certainly would have.

70+ passenger double decker GO Buses are infinitely safer than the 15 seat passenger vans.

I also questioned as to why school buses don't have seat belts but the logic is that in the event of a fire or submersion there would be more fatalities due to the inability to quickly get the passengers out. I'm pretty sure someone's done a study of kids killed in an crash vs. how many would have been killed had they not been able to get out.

 

[patrickbateman]

Such a tragedy, what a shame. I will pray for them.

 

[night ride]

The fact that the van had 10 people seems to be the main reason to say they are unsafe. How about 10 tired people with ten seperate cars on the road. Is that any better? I think not. More traffic on the road.

 

[Rockslinger]

How about 10 tired people with ten seperate cars on the road. Is that any better? I think not. More traffic on the road.

Good point but unlikely 10 people would be killed in a single incident like a van.

(My boss and his brother never ride in the same car or fly on the same plane.)