Worst crash in TTC history remembered 20 years later

WATCH ABOVE: On the 20th anniversary of the worst crash in the history of the TTC, Ashley Carter talks to Peter Rotolo, the man responsible for coordinating the emergency medical response on that fateful day.

TORONTO — Today marks a somber anniversary in Toronto transit history — 20 years since the worst crash in the history of the TTC.

The crash occurred when a driver ran multiple red lights before crashing into another train on the TTC’s Spadina line on Aug. 11, 1995.

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“It was hot, if you can imagine it’s over 100 C with humidity, we’re in a tunnel that has no ventilation,” remembers Commander Peter Rotolo, who was on the scene and responsible for coordinating the emergency medical response.

“So we’re crawling in all this aluminium type debris, crawling over collapsed trains and squeezing yourself through a lot of jagged edges of the train.”

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Three people were killed and dozens of riders were injured.

“Our job is to save lives and you do everything you can to save lives,” Rotolo said.

“Knowing that for some we couldn’t do anything and for others we did our best, it was tough and it’s tough for a paramedic to let a patient go.”