At Least 30 Killed in Canada Train Collision

At least 30 people were killed in a heap of twisted, burning rail cars Saturday when a Canadian passenger train collided with a 114-car freight train in a remote area of western Alberta province, a spokesman for the Canadian passenger service said.

“We have been reliably informed that there have been between 30 and 40 deaths,” Cederick Jennings, a spokesman for VIA Rail, said in a radio interview from Montreal.

“We are waiting for a precise count from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Canadian National railway,” he added.

The accident occurred at 8:40 a.m. local time, 10 miles east of Hinton, a pulp-mill town on the main Canadian National Railroad line, said Bill Dewan, a spokesman for the principal cross-country freight line.

The freight train, with three diesel locomotives in addition to its cars, was westbound, he said, and the nine-car passenger train carrying at least 103 passengers was heading east. The cause of the collision was not immediately known.

“Some freight cars are piled on top of the passenger cars. There are a lot of problems getting to people in those cars,” Dewan added.

Survivors were being taken to the Hinton Hospital, some in shuttle flights by helicopters, and police were setting up a makeshift morgue in Hinton, Jennings said.

Bruno Belanger of Terrace, British Columbia, who was riding on the passenger train described the accident: “All of the impact happened to about five cars in front of us. There was a dining car, an observation car. The dining car ended up getting split in half just like a sardine can. Some people were lucky enough to get out of there.”

“But in the car in front of that, the windows smashed from the impact and the only people that got out were ones able to get out of the window.” Belanger added.