6 killed in Ottawa as bus hits train; passengers yelled ‘Stop!’

OTTAWA, Ontario — A double-decker bus collided with a passenger train in Canada’s capital Wednesday, ripping off the front of the bus and killing six people, police said.

Witnesses said the bus went through a closed crossing barrier, and passengers said they screamed “Stop!” at the driver just before impact.

It was Canada’s second major rail accident this year, after an oil train derailed and exploded in a Quebec town in July, killing 47 people.

Officials said 30 people were injured, 10 critically, in Wednesday’s crash, which happened at the peak of Ottawa’s morning rush hour.

The cause of the crash was not yet clear, said John Manconi of the bus operator OC Transpo. Transit union President Craig Watson said the driver was killed.

Tanner Trepanier, who was on the bus, said passengers could see the train bearing down on them as they approached the crossing.

“People started screaming, ‘Stop, stop!’” Trepanier said.

Witnesses said the bus plowed through a lowered crossing barrier and into the side of the passing four-car train. The locomotive and one passenger car derailed. Via Rail said there were no reports of major injuries to train passengers or crew.

Via Rail canceled trains on its Ottawa-Toronto route.

Rebbecca Guilbeault, who was on the bus with her 1-year-old son, said she had put him in a stroller just before the crash and said people piled on top of him.

“I don’t know if the bus driver blacked out. He didn’t slow down, and it just impacted with the train,” Guilbeault said. “I’ve seen a few people dead, someone ripped in half.”

Witness Mark Cogan said the rail barrier was down.

“He went through the guard rail and just hammered the train, and then it was just mayhem,” Cogan said.

The train tracks, just outside a suburban train station, Fallowfield, cross a major city street and a transit line reserved for buses.

The national Transportation Safety Board’s lead investigator, Glen Pilon, said Via Rail crossings have been a concern. Pilon said getting the black-box recording is a priority to determine what went wrong before the crash.

Canada has seen 257 accidents involving passenger trains colliding with vehicles at level crossings over the last decade, the safety board said Wednesday.

“It is a tragic morning in the nation’s capital, as a devastating accident between a bus and train has caused injury and death,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.

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