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Three NRIs
died and 14 others seriously injured in van rollover
Three NRI, Abbotsford women killed in a horrific crash Wednesday
morning around 6:30 a.m. on Highway 1 just west of the Sumas Way
exit in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. Police have released the names:
- Sarbjit Kaur Sidhu, 30, who leaves behind
three small children around the ages of one, five, and eight.Sidhu
said his cousin identified the body of his wife when police showed
him pictures. "I was near 100 Mile House and I got a phone
call from a cousin and I could no longer drive so I parked my
truck right there and got in with another trucker," said
Sidhu. With tears streaming down his face, Abbotsford dad Jagjeet
Sidhu yesterday explained to his eight-year-old daughter Avneet
that her mom would never come home.
- Amarjit Kaur Ball, 52: Harsharan Bal, 26,
said he sponsored his mother, Amarjit Kaur Bal, his father and
a sister and they arrived here from India in June."I heard
on the radio that there had been a crash," he said about
first reports from Radio India. Police showed him pictures of
the bodies and he identified his mother.
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Sukhwinder Kaur Punia, 45: Darshan
Singh Punia, the husband of the third victim, Sukhvinder Kaur
Punia, said it was to have been her third day working at a Chilliwack
greenhouse where the workers were headed.
The bodies of three accident victims lay under tarps on
Highway 1 on Wednesday morning, after the van they were riding
in with 14 other farm workers rolled onto the highway divider
"We came here on Oct. 12 from India, my wife
and I and two children," said Punia. "She left for
work very early and told me lunch was ready when I needed it
and to lock the door after her.
"Don't even ask how I feel, I feel very,
very bad and no one can understand the pain."
The vehicle rolled before coming to rest upside down, impaled on
a concrete median. The middle section of the van was crushed on
impact.
Two trucks were also hit by the van as it skidded on the highway,
but there were no injuries to the other vehicles.
Within one hour, police, fire and 16 B.C. Ambulance Service vehicles,
including two ambulance helicopters stationed at the Vancouver airport,
arrived at the crash site
14 other occupants were seriously injured and transported by the
B.C. Ambulance and Air Ambulance Service to five Lower Mainland
hospitals; Vancouver General, Royal Columbian, MSA General, Chilliwack
and Mission.
The police said that the van was travelling eastbound when it
lost control and collided with two east bound trucks before rolling
out of control and striking the centre median.
The van was carrying a total of 17 women including the driver and
all involved in the crash were farm workers from the Abbotsford
area for work at Rainbow Greenhouse in Chilliwack.
After the accident, investigators saw at least one wooden bench
sticking out of the vehicle. Constable Dave Babineau of the RCMP
said investigators will be looking at whether modifications were
made to the van and how many seatbelts were in it.
It is also confirmed that the van belonged to a RHA Enterprises
Ltd., a labour contractor based out of Chilliwack. The 1998 Dodge
van was registered as a bus designated to
carry 15 people, and had just passed inspection on Feb. 28
at S&K Auto Repairs in Abbotsford.
The other official said it was registered
as a bus designated to carry 10 people only
RCMP Staff Sgt. Bob Beaudoin said the crash resembled the scene
of a disaster.
“It was catastrophic, that’s the word, akin to a plane
crash,” he said.
“With (17) people in a vehicle like
that, on benches with no seatbelts, you can picture in your mind
the size of the disaster.”
Manpreet Grewal, manager of multicultural and
immigrant services for Abbotsford Community Services (ACS). Grewal
said unsafe vehicles being used to transport farm workers is not
a new problem.
Grewal said although the exact details about this accident are
still not known, farm labourers being transported by third-party
contractors often travel in overcrowded vehicles that don’t
meet safety standards.
Another NRI Pashora Singh said:
“If a van comes out of the factory with seatbelts, it’s
against the law to alter and remove them."
“You’re not allowed to alter the structure of the vehicle,
or remove the seats and replace them without an inspection.”
Surinder Bahl said:
The seats may have been altered and seat belts may not have used.
However, such practises unfortunately are not uncommon among the
labour contractors who organize work crews to labour in farm fields
and in greenhouses, say local advocates.
"The government has got to do something. What happened in
a week, everything got altered?" said Gurcharan Dhillon, an
ACS legal advocate for immigrant labourers.
The director Scott McCloy of WorkSafeBC communications said an
inspector had been at the greenhouse on Feb. 27 to review working
conditions, but did not inspect the van.
"We do random, routine inspections. There were no orders written
up. Basically it was an opportunity for us to remind the employer
of his responsibilities regulations," said McCloy.
He said vehicles operated by labour contractors, who are essentially
the employers of the farm labourers they transport, are checked
and if there is an infraction that leads to injury, employers may
be liable for fines up to $500,000. If there is also a labour contractor
involved, "we may go after both," said McCloy.
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Community Reaction:
- B.C. farm workers are demanding answers, the inaction of the
government is inexcusable," said Raj Chouhan, MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds
and a former president of the Farmworkers Union. "They're
treating farm workers like second-class citizens."
- One lawyer said: This accidents WAS preventable. Tests have
shown that, because of their high centre of gravity, 17-passenger
vans have a propensity to roll over.
- Sukhminder Cheema, talk show host and news director of Surrey's
Radio India, said callers were angry Thursday about the van accident
and feel the government rules and regulations are not providing
enough protection for farm workers. "People are damn angry,"
he said, adding callers want to see charges laid.
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