Six people are dead after a double decker OC Transpo bus and a Via Rail train collided at 8:50 a.m. Sept. 18, officials confirmed.
The bus, route 76, was travelling northbound on the Transitway when it collided with the Toronto-bound train near Fallowfield Station.
Five people died on the scene, and a sixth died from injuries on their way to the hospital. Thirty-one patients were taken to hospitals, 11 of those in critical condition, Ottawa Paramedics Chief Anthony Di Monte said.
Third-year political science student Tanner Trepanier was on the bus, on his way to class at Carleton.
He said he boarded the bus at 8:46 a.m. and sat on the upper level at the back, since his usual seat in the front was full.
Trepanier said he took his headphones out when he heard people yelling at the driver, moments before the crash occurred.
“I usually sit at the front of the bus,” he said. “And those people were . . . gone. Like they weren’t even in the bus anymore.”
After the crash, he said passengers helped each other get out of the bus. He said the injured included a lady with a broken leg.
“Everyone got off the bus and just started calling their family to say they were okay,” he said.
Trepanier said his family was happy to see him.
Carleton has lowered flags on campus to half-mast out of respect for the victims and their families, according to a statement released by the university.
Mayor Jim Watson said it is too soon to speculate what happened at the site, but confirmed that this is the largest number of fatalities in Ottawa involving a train and a bus.
Diane Deans, chair of the transit commission, said the city considers all rail crossings safe.
David Jeanes, president of Transport Action Canada, an advocacy group for public transportation, said the crossing at Woodroffe and Fallowfield is safe.
“It was designed . . . to meet the highest safety standards for railway crossings. There are in fact more gates and lights at that crossing of the Transitway of Woodroffe than you’d normally find,” he said.
Jeanes said the crossing was designed for high-speed train operations.
He said this particular train was moving at a slow speed of about 40 km/hr, as it was scheduled to stop at Fallowfield Station.
–With files from Rachel Collier
