HAMPSTEAD, Ont. - Emergency officials in rural southwestern Ontario describe the scene of a devastating crash that killed 10 migrant workers and a truck driver as utter "carnage," with people trapped inside twisted wreckage, dying shortly after first responders arrived.
Eleven people were killed Monday afternoon in Hampstead, a tiny community northeast of Stratford, after a flatbed truck broadsided the large white passenger van carrying 13 people, sending it hurtling across a lawn and smashing into the side of a house.
A fund has been set up by UFCW Canada and the Agricultural Workers Alliance to assist the families of the workers killed and injured in Monday's accident.
Online donations can be made here.
Donations can also be made to The Migrant Workers Support Fund, TD Canada Trust, account # 5221618, transit # 1864.
Police and fire officials said it's a miracle that anyone survived what they describe as the worst collision they've ever seen.
"That's really very amazing considering the crash that we saw there, the impact and the carnage that was out there," Ontario provincial police Const. Kees Wijnands told a news conference in Milverton, not far from the crash site.
"It's a miracle that these people are still living."
All 13 of the migrant workers were from Peru, a provincial Labour Ministry spokesman said Tuesday after checking with the Jamaican Embassy in Ottawa. Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey had earlier said some of the workers were from Jamaica.
Three people from the 2007 GMC Savanna passenger van survived the crash. One was airlifted to a hospital in Hamilton with life-threatening injuries. The other two were taken to hospital in Stratford, though one has since been transferred to London Health Sciences hospital. The patient who remains in Stratford is still in critical condition, the hospital said.
When paramedics and volunteer fire crews arrived on the scene of the horrific crash five people were already dead. Firefighters had to perform a "very difficult" extraction to get to the people in the van, said Bill Hunter, the fire chief for the Township of Perth East.
"It's certainly something that no one ever expects to see ... that much carnage," Hunter said. "It was definitely a terrible scene. I've never seen that much damage in a motor vehicle collision before."
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 rest.
The neighbour said her husband ran out to help, but "there was nothing he could do" because the victims already appeared dead.
He tried to assist one conscious survivor, but couldn't communicate because the survivor spoke no English, she said.
The other six victims died as paramedics tried to save them, said local EMS chief Linda Rockwood. A language barrier between paramedics and conscious victims may have made rescue efforts more difficult, she said.
Police are now working to track down next of kin for the victims -- a difficult task, they said, as some have family in the area and have lived in Canada for many years, while others only have family in their home country.
"We are somewhat limited in what we can put out there at this point because of the investigation and the way it's going," Wijnands said.
"Identity of next of kin has been the big issue, and that is going to really hamper us in putting out details."
Mayor Ian Forrest said donations to the workers' families and emergency services can be made through the CIBC anywhere in Canada.
Albert Burgers, who co-owns Hampstead Poultry, said the workers had just spent the day vaccinating about 16,000 chickens at his farm. He said they are contracted through Brian's Poultry, based in Mildmay, Ont., which refused comment.
Sixteen workers were actually at his farm Monday, Burgers said, but three left in a different van heading in another direction. The company sends workers to vaccinate his chickens about three or four times a year, Burgers said. He recognized some of the 16 people as workers he has seen for years while others were new faces.
"They're all happy guys," he said. "They were in a really good mood when they left."
The workers were supposed to return shortly for more work, Burgers said.
"I said to the guys, 'I'll see you next week,"' he said. "That's the last I saw the guys."
One of the 16 people was a woman, Burgers said, but he doesn't know if she was in the van that crashed or not.
Coincidentally, the crash occurred just down the road from Burgers' home. He drove by and at first just saw the truck, then he noticed emergency crews lifting someone off the ground. He was in "total shock" to find out it was the group of workers who had just left his farm.
The crash scene was cleared by this morning and investigators are trying to determine what caused the collision. Weather does not appear to have been a factor, Wijnands said. There hasn't been a serious collision at the intersection to the best of neighbours' and Wijnands' knowledge.
The intersection is a two-way stop, and the truck would have had the right of way. Based on what police told the CEO of the truck company, Speedy Transport, it appears the van may have gone through a stop sign and been hit by the truck.
However, Ontario's transportation minister appealed for patience while police investigate and said it's still not clear exactly what happened.
Calling the crash an "unbelievable tragedy," Bob Chiarelli said he can't confirm who failed to stop, but it's his understanding that "it may have been the truck."
"It's not a clear-cut accident, obviously, with one stop sign and one through street," said Chiarelli. "So we need to look at the facts."
"It is so serious, it is so severe and it is so sad really that this thing can still happen, that we've got to be so comprehensive that we do everything possible to ensure that it never happens again."
Police identified the truck driver as Christopher Fulton of London.
His employer, Speedy Transport CEO Jared Martin, said Fulton was 38 years old and was celebrating his 11th wedding anniversary on the day of the accident.
The victims' bodies were brought to the coroner's office in Toronto, where they were to be identified.
A spokeswoman at the Peruvian consulate in Toronto said Consulate General Aurelio Pinto-Bazurco Rittler was at the coroner's office helping to identify those killed in the crash.
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.
The province's health minister is looking into whether the survivors are covered under the provincial health plan.
"Seasonal migrant workers in Ontario are covered from the time they arrive here, assuming all the proper procedures have been followed," Deb Matthews said.
"So, I am looking into the issue of whether these workers fall under the seasonal migrant worker program."
Ontario hospitals cannot refuse to provide emergency care to patients regardless of the patients' residency status.
The labour minister said investigators are looking into who was in the van, who they worked for and who was transporting them.
