Canoe

STEWIACKE, N.S. (CP) -- At least 16 people were injured Thursday when a Via passenger train derailed, rolling one car onto a feed store in this tiny farm community north of Halifax.

Mayor Bruce Lohnes said five passengers were critically injured when the train jumped the tracks in the heart of town.

The injuries included broken limbs, a broken pelvis and internal damage.

Transport Canada spokesman Paul Doucet could not confirm reports that some of the 109 passengers and 15 crew members remained trapped in the wreckage.

Ten of the 14 passenger cars derailed, at least two of them demolishing one end of a farm supply store next to the tracks.

The roof of the feed store sat on top of a car that was twisted into a mangled V-shape, its wheels facing the sky.

Bags of feed from the store and siding from the building were scattered throughout the wreckage.

Don Wood, who works in the feed store, was with several customers when the train plowed into the building.

The cause of the derailment wasn't immediately known.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 12, 2001

Answers

Speculation is that a track switch was tampered. Also, two other train cars left the track near Shearwater this a.m.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 13, 2001.