3 Killed, 46 Hurt in Canadian Train Crash

Derailment claims lives of 3 railway workers
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 27, 2012 12:09 AM CST
3 Killed, 46 Hurt in Canadian Train Crash
Emergency crews work the scene of a Via Rail train derailment in Burlington, Ontario.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

Two locomotive engineers and a trainee were killed when a train derailed in Burlington, Ontario. Another railway worker and 45 passengers were injured when the train, headed to Toronto from Niagara Falls, came off the rails in an industrial district, the Toronto Star reports. The accident happened in good weather on a straight stretch of track and investigators say it could take a long time to establish the cause.

Passengers, many of whom had to be pulled from the wreckage by emergency crews, described scenes of panic inside the train. One man said the man next to him "flew out the window" as the train tipped. "There’s no question it’s very tragic. We’re a relatively small company, we’re a family, we know everyone by name,” Via Rail chief operating officer John Marginson told reporters. “We certainly feel for the families of the colleagues that we lost." (More train stories.)

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