Commentary
Flu-like Medical Emergency in Tour Group from Jasper Alberta
Recombinomics Commentary 18:17
May 9, 2008
One person is dead and 10 others have been taken to hospital after illness broke out aboard a Toronto-bound VIA train in northern Ontario this morning.
The train, carrying 264 passengers, was stopped at Foleyet, a small town northwest of Sudbury at about 8:35 a.m. after CN Rail was informed that a woman had taken ill and had stopped breathing.
Ten other people were taken to hospital in Timmins with flu-like symptoms, said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Laura Nichols.
The woman who died was in her 60s, OPP said. Her name was not immediately released.
All the people who became ill boarded the same two cars in Jasper, Alta.
Another resident said she saw at least two people loaded onto an air ambulance.
Ontario's Ministry of Health has sent two air ambulances with critical care paramedics to the scene from their home base in Sudbury, said ministry spokesperson Laurel Ostfield.
The above comments provide more detail on the medical emergency on a train in Ontario, Canada. Media reports indicate one of the airlifted passengers is in critical condition and the fatal case was a women in her 60’s who had respiratory problems prior to death.
Other reports indicate foreign tourists were on the train, but there has been no detail on the tour group that boarded in Jasper, Alberta.
The distance between Jasper and Ontario indicates the illness need not be sudden.
A press conference is planned.
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