VIDEO: As TSB investigators comb over scene, many questions remain over deadly collision. Global’s Mike Le Couteur reports.
Passengers aboard an Ottawa city bus say they screamed at the driver to stop as the double-decker bus crashed into a Via Rail train Wednesday morning.
OC Transpo bus 76 collided with Via Train 51 on the Ottawa-Toronto corridor, killing six people. Thirty people were rushed to hospital, including 10 in critical condition.
David Woodard, a 45-year-old father of three, has been identified as the driver of an Ottawa city bus.
“I heard someone yelling so I looked up from my phone and you could see the train coming,” said a young woman who wished to remain anonymous. She was sitting on the second level of the bus at the time of the crash.
She said the impact ripped off the first two rows of seats in front of her; the train then derailed further down the tracks.
“A lot of people started panicking…I went downstairs hoping that the first aid kit would still be behind the bus driver but it wasn’t there,” she said.
READ MORE: 6 dead after Via Rail train, city bus collide in Ottawa
Images from the scene show a broken signal barrier in front of the bus.
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) were on the scene all day, collecting information and “looking for the black box.”
Many questions remain including the speeds at which both the train and bus were travelling, and whether the train’s crossing barrier was up or down at the time of the crash.
READ MORE: Deadly train accident raises questions about crossing
The crash happened just east of Fallowfield train station near Woodroffe Ave., in the Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven at 8:48 a.m. EDT.
Witnesses said the bus appeared to drive through a lowered crossing barrier.
“Boom! It went into the train like that,” said Pascal Lolgis. “He didn’t stop. He must have lost his brakes. Or he had an … attack or whatever.
“He just didn’t stop. He just keep going like that. Then he [got] hit.”
On Wednesday morning, the city of Ottawa opened the Nepean Sportsplex for families affected by the crash.
Officials said the names of the deceased or those in critical condition will not be released before the notification of next of kin.
The train tracks in the area cross both a major city street and a transit line reserved for buses only. The bus was on a dedicated transit line that runs parallel to a busy commuter artery, about 10 kilometres west of Parliament Hill.
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According to the TSB, there have been 257 accidents, over the past 10 years, across Canada involving passenger trains and vehicles at level crossings.
READ MORE: Double-decker buses involved in past accidents
TSB officials said in 2012 there were 25 fatal crossing accidents, most typically involving pedestrians.
Wednesday’s crash is the largest fatality involving a bus and train in Ottawa.
*With files from Global News’ Irene Ogrodnik and Laura Stone
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