Accidents, Agro

Ten Peruvians Killed In Canadian Car Crash, Three Injured

Ten Peruvian farm workers were killed and three more injured late Monday in Canada when a van they were traveling in was involved in a violent accident with a flatbed truck outside Stratford, in southwestern Ontario. 

Peru’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the injured had been identified as as Javier Abelardo Aldo Medina, Juan Jose Ariza, and Edgar Sulla Puma. The ministry said in a statement that the three are being treated at separate hospitals in Ontario.

Newspaper La Republica said the fatalities included David Blancas, Cesar Sanchez, Jose Valdiviezo, Fernando Valdiviezo, Mario Abril, Andres Corsino, Oscar Corsino, Elvio Suncion, Jesus Contreras, and Enrique Arenaza.

Peru’s Consul General in Toronto, Aurelio Pinto Bazurco, confirmed on Radio Programas that Arenaza, 48, was killed in the crash. The other victims have yet to be confirmed by authorities. Juan Castillo, a Nicaragua national, was also killed in the crash, La Republica said.

The ministry said that it is supporting family members of the victims. It said that Ontario’s police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident.

The men, some of whom had just arrived in Canada and others who had worked in the area for over 10 years, were working on a chicken farm near Hamstead, a town located south-west of Toronto. They had spent the day vaccinating 16,000 chickens and were en route home when the accident occurred. Canadian media reported that the crash on the rural road is one of the deadliest in the province’s history.

6 Comments

  1. Breda Murphy

    I am so sorry for the loss of these Peruvian lives in my province of Ontario. I had occasion to visit Peru this summer and was enchanted with your country and its people. The survivors are assured of good care here and I hope the families of the dead will be well served by their own communities.

    sincerely

  2. Ysabel Llerena

    How sad , what a terrible accident.They come all the way from Peru for a better life…and see how they ended up : (

  3. Yeah, they were driving a 15 passenger van like it was Peru, went through a STOP sign on a side road, right in front of a Flatbed truck on the main road which was travelling at 80 km/h. They killed the 31 year old transport truck driver on his 11th wedding anniversary.

    • I’m Peruvian and we are so sad that this kind of accident happened to our people..Who’s ever fault it was it doesn’t matter now.. 10 of my people are now dead their families are destroyed. It was an accident and unfortunately accident happens.. So now we must pray for God to strengthen their families and give them peace that they now need.

    • Joe “Normal” Despite who was a fault 11 people have lost their lives. Have some compassion. It wasn’t a malicious act but an accident and a tragedy.

      • I, as do all people, have compassion for the families of the dead and injured in this terrible collision. An ‘accident’? no. I drive daily in Lima….i feel most sorry for the poor wife of the Transport Truck driver waiting at home for her husband to get there for their 11th wedding anniversary celebration…..only to get ‘that’ phone call from the Police.

        Witnesses say that the van (for which the Peruvian driver did NOT have a licence to drive) did not even slow down at the STOP sign, but went straight out in front of the Transport.

        The 3 injured Peruanos, one was airlifted to a trauma center, the other two are in hospital….will be taken care of by the Government ministry supervising Workers, as these Migrant workers were in Canada legally working, so will the return of the remains of the dead to Peru.

        Canadians are VERY compassionate people…who expect people to obey their laws…..like stopping at stop signs. In Peru (or most other countries in Latin America) NOBODY obeys the laws, so EVERYBODY drives EXPECTING somebody to breeze through the red semaforos and stop signs. Not so in North America, where people drive expecting others to follow the rules and obey the law.

        Perhaps this is a ‘wake up call’ for visitors to Canada who intend to Drive?

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