LANGLEY, British Columbia — An 86-year-old woman, critically injured Friday when the ambulance she was riding in was struck by a train, has died. The woman was being transferred between facilities and in stable condition at the time of the collision.
The collision, near Vancouver, British Columbia, also injured two paramedics. The paramedic who was in the patient care compartment is in stable condition, reports The Province. The paramedic driving the ambulance is reported to have back pain.
“Our first thoughts, as an organization dedicated to the care of patients, are of course, with the patient we were transporting,” said Linda Lupini, executive vice president of B.C. Ambulance Service. “We are also very concerned for the paramedics involved and are offering support to them.”
A dashcam video, posted to YouTube, captured the collision.
A nearby witness told Global News they heard the train’s horn blasting for about 45 seconds and the sound of locking breaks.
Lupini said an internal investigation would be launched to probe the cause of the accident.
A witness, Tyson Hunter, tweeted photos of the collision’s aftermath.
“I was in the car with my buddy and we heard the train just laying on the horn,” Hunter said.
Hunter believes the ambulance was caught by the railway crossing’s gate arm. “He probably should have gone right through it, but he was trying to inch forward (and) couldn’t get off the track in time,” he said.
“It kind of hit the back end and spun him right around and the front end kind of hit the train again as it spun, but luckily it wasn’t against the train as it kept going.”
Just saw a train hit an ambulance that stopped on the tracks pic.twitter.com/ZHGpYb3xVp
— Tyson Hunter (@tysonhunter_) September 11, 2015
Praying everyone’s involved is okay! just drove past again 5 mins ago and saw the ambulence take the stretcher out. pic.twitter.com/ggzSSJnReq
— Tyson Hunter (@tysonhunter_) September 11, 2015