Police say it’s a miracle anyone survived the crash that killed 10 migrant workers

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HAMPSTEAD, Ont. – A police officer who was at the scene of a horrific crash that killed 10 migrant workers and a truck driver in southwestern Ontario says it’s a miracle anyone survived.

“They are still alive,” Ontario provincial police Const. Kees Wijnands told a news conference in Milverton, not far from Monday’s terrible accident in rural Hampstead, northeast of Stratford.

“That’s really very amazing considering the crash that we saw there, the impact and the carnage. It’s a miracle that these people are still living.”

The head of Emergency Management Services said five of the victims were already dead when fire officials arrived and started pulling them from the van.

The others died as paramedics tried to save them.

Police said some of the victims have family in the area and have lived in Canada for many years, but others have relatives only in Peru.

Officials are having difficulty reaching family members, and so the identities of the victims and details of what happened cannot yet be released.

“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.

Wijnands said plucking the bodies from the vehicle was a wrenching experience for the volunteer firefighters.

“I really feel for the fire department,” he said.

“These fellows had to do the moving and the pulling and the extrication. I feel for these guys.”

Linda Rockwood, of emergency services, said the victims were Spanish speaking and that there may have been a language barrier between them and the first responders.

The owner of the farm that employed the migrants said they spent Monday vaccinating 16,000 chickens before the collision.

Albert Burgers says some of them had been with the crew for more than a decade.

The crash scene was cleared by this morning and investigators are trying to determine what caused the collision.

Police identified the truck driver as Christopher Fulton, 38, of London.

The bodies were brought to the coroner’s office in Toronto, where they were to be identified.

One of the survivors was taken to a Hamilton hospital with life-threatening injuries while two others were taken to hospital in Stratford with serious injuries. One was later transferred to London Health Sciences hospital.

Based on what police told the CEO of the truck company, Speedy Transport, it appears the van went through a stop sign and was hit by the truck.

The impact of the crash sent the van hurtling across a lawn before smashing into the side of a house with the passenger side ripped nearly clean off.

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 a rest.

The neighbour, who didn’t want her name used, said her husband ran out to help, but “there was nothing he could do” because the victims were already dead.

He tried to assist one conscious survivor, but couldn’t communicate because the survivor spoke no English, she said.

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.

A support fund has been set up for the families of the migrant workers killed in the crash near Stratford.

The fund also covers the family of  38-year-old Chris Fulton of London, the truck driver killed in the trash.  

Donations are being accepted at the TD Bank, or online, through this link.

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