BUS FLIPPED OVER
THE GUARDRAIL AND INTO THE GRASS MEDIAN NEAR WESTON ROAD IN THE NORTH END OF
TORONTO, CANADA. ONE WOMAN PASSENGER DIED, OTHERS INJURED.
Published Thursday, January 15, 2015 5:05AM EST
Last Updated Thursday, January 15, 2015 8:10PM EST
Last Updated Thursday, January 15, 2015 8:10PM EST
A woman killed in a bus rollover northwest of Toronto on
Wednesday has been identified as 56-year-old Radika Nankissoor.
Nankissoor died after a GO Transit bus crashed on
Highway 407 in Vaughan, Ont., at approximately 10 p.m.
The bus was travelling east when it flipped over the
guardrail and into the grass median near Weston Road. It had been driving from
the Hamilton GO Centre to York University in the north end of Toronto.
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told
reporters on scene that six people were on the bus when it crashed.
Nankissoor was ejected when the bus crashed, and died at
the scene. A representative of York University said that Nankissoor was a
custodian at the school since 2010.
A witness who said he was first on scene told CTV
Toronto that he helped get some of the passengers and the driver off the bus by
kicking in the windows.
"When the officer showed up, we were walking
around, we noticed that there was a lady underneath the wheel of the bus,"
he said.
Another bystander crawled into the bus to comfort one of
the injured women who couldn't get out on her own.
"She was in a lot of pain, crying," the
witness, Walter, said. She had blood on her face and was holding her side. She
was rushed to hospital with the 66-year-old driver and another female
passenger.
"Those people were bleeding from the head," he
said.
A spokesperson for York University said one of the
injured passengers was a current student, and the other was an alumnus.
The other two passengers escaped uninjured. The other
passengers were all young adults between the ages of 18 to 23, Schmidt said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families
involved, the friends of the passenger who was killed in the accident as well
as those who were injured and the bus driver," GO Transit President Greg
Percy said at a news conference Thursday morning.
The bus driver has 15 years of experience, Percy told
reporters. When asked if the driver had any pre-existing medical conditions,
Percy said he couldn't comment further because of an ongoing police
investigation.
The driver is still in hospital, recovering from his
injuries.
Percy said the death was the first in GO Transit's
history. Prior to Wednesday night, there had never been a death on a GO bus or
train, he said.
The bus was significantly damaged during the crash, and
the metal guardrail passed through the front of the bus and out the roof. Many
of the windows were also broken.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation as
police speak to witnesses and look for video surveillance footage.
The bus is an older model, so it did not have the video
camera system present in some of the newer GO buses. It was equipped with a
diagnostic computer, which will be reviewed by police and GO Transit.
There were no known mechanical issues on the bus at the
time.