Dorion, QB Freight Train And Bus Collide, Oct 1966

19 TEENAGERS LOSE LIVES AS BUS SLICES IN HALF.

VICTORY DANCE ENDS IN DEATH.

Dorion, Que. (CP) -- Nineteen teen-agers, en route to a dance to celebrate victory in student elections, were killed Friday night when their bus and a CNR freight train collided.
Twenty-four students were injured. Five were in critical condition and three in serious condition in hospital. The others were either in fair condition or released after treatment.
The bus was sliced in half by the 100-car train. Part of the crowded 45-seat vehicle landed in a ditch and the rest was dragged one-half mile by the train.
Authorities in Dorion, 15 miles west of Montreal, said the crash was the worst disaster in this general area since a March, 1965, explosion killed 28 persons in an apartment house at LaSalle.
There were 11 bodies in a makeshift morgue in Dorion, a town of 5,000, and eight others at Lakeshore General Hospital in nearby Pointe Claire.
The CNR, whose freight was headed west for Toronto from Montreal when the crash came at 8 p.m. EDT, said its own investigation has already begun.
A further investigation was to be made by the board of transport commissioners.
Some witnesses spoke of seeing flames as the train, travelling at between 30 and 40 miles, and the bus ripped into one another.
No one on the train was reported injured.
The derailed parts of the train and the shattered pieces of the bus were dragged away as crowds of up to 2,000 persons watched the floodlit proceedings.
Witnesses said the bus had stopped at the crossing, waiting for an east-bound train to pass.
Once that train had gone through, the bus moved on to the double track.
Then, heading west, came a second freight, and the shattering crash ensued.
The dead:
MARCEL FLEURY, the bus driver, from Dorion.
FERNAND CARRON of Cascades Point.
LINDA BROSSEAU of Vaudreuil.
GISELLE POUDRIER of Vaudreuil.
ANDRE and SUZANNE LEVAC of Dorion.
ANDRE DALENENT of Dorion.
MICHEL ROBILLARD of Cedar.
DIANA LEDUC of Ile Perrot.
DANIEL MENARD of Dorion.
GILLES DIONNE of Dorion.
RENEE BESNER of Vaudreuil.
JACQUES RIENDEAU of Cascades Point.
NORMAND BARRY of Ile Perrot.
GAETAN BELANGER of Vaudreuil.
MARCEL RICHARD of Terrace Vaudreuil.
LOUISE PREVOST, address unknown.
LISA DIONNE of Dorion.
CAROLE ROBERT of Dorion.

Lethbridge Herald Alberta Canada 1966-10-08
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!