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.
  
• 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.

• Van was registered as a bus designated to carry 10 or 15 people
• Van comes out of the factory with seatbelts, it’s against the law to alter and remove them
• Removal of the seats and alter with wooden bench