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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
[Further update]
(.... Same texts as above.)
Toronto resident Karen Maxwade believes her 73-year-old mother, June, is on the train. She said she has contacted Via Rail but has mostly been left in the dark.
?I asked if the train originated in Vancouver and they said they couldn?t tell me that," Maxwade said. "Then I asked if they could check if a certain passenger was on the train I was told they couldn?t give me that information.?
Maxwade said her mother was expected to arrive at 8 p.m. this evening at Union Station, the same time as the quarantined train.
With files from Rob Ferguson and Petti Fong
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Train not operating on the date requested. The next available date offered is Saturday May 10, 2008
VIA rail website home page doenst' mention Timmins incident as well media pages. Duration of a trip from Toronto to Vancouver is Duration: 3 d 1 h 50 m. No schedule delays are mentioned, but all seats are put as SOLD.
To communicate:
You may reach VIA Rail Canada's Corporate Communications Department, by contacting :
Headquarters, Quebec and Atlantic :
Malcolm Andrews
Senior Manager, Corporate Communications
(514) 871-6604 office
Malcolm_Andrews@viarail.ca
<!-- Martin Roy
Specialist, Media and Corporate Communications
(514) 871-6119 office
(514) 887-6119 cellular
Martin_Roy@viarail.ca
-->Ontario and Western Canada :
Catherine Kaloutsky
Senior Officer, Media and Corporate Communications
(416) 956-7683 office
Catherine_Kaloutsky@viarail.caComment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
No plans to evacuate town "for now". Some have characterized the situation as a "biohazard alert".Comment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Location of stopped train is remote and without cell phone service.Originally posted by ironorehopper View Post[Further update]
(.... Same texts as above.)
Toronto resident Karen Maxwade believes her 73-year-old mother, June, is on the train. She said she has contacted Via Rail but has mostly been left in the dark.
?I asked if the train originated in Vancouver and they said they couldn?t tell me that," Maxwade said. "Then I asked if they could check if a certain passenger was on the train I was told they couldn?t give me that information.?
Maxwade said her mother was expected to arrive at 8 p.m. this evening at Union Station, the same time as the quarantined train.
With files from Rob Ferguson and Petti Fong
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Dr. Donald Low, the medicial director Ontario public health lab, said he doesn't believe an exotic disease such as SARS or avian flu is responsible.
"It doesn't fit the profile because of the explosive nature of this event," said Low, who helped co-ordinate efforts to contain Toronto's SARS outbreak.
Low said food poisoning isn't likely either because it "usually doesn't kill you" and that is associated with gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea.
He said early indications suggest that influenza may be the cause.
"You've got 10 people showing the same symptoms," he said. "I think it could be an outbreak of influenza. This (death) is typical of an older person who maybe has an underlying heart disease."
Saying illness isn't likely to be avian influenza but may be influenza isn't internally consistant (or consistant with discussions of a possible evacuation of town).Comment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
It seems to be possible explanation. A toxin could have dispersed into heating system or in sleeping car equipment. Aerosolized chemicals also mixed in toilet cleaning detergents.Originally posted by niman View Post
The heating system of the most part of train passenger cars are electric and not by combustion. However, if materials are put into ventilators may burn releasing both CO and other chemicals.Comment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Train quarantined near Timmins
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Ambulances wait outside a VIA train stopped at Foleyet in northern Ontario.
May 09, 2008 01:28 PM
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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 60, an OPP source said, and a member of a group of seven travellers, all of whom fell ill. Her name was not immediately released.
All the people who became ill boarded the same two cars in Jasper, Alta.
The train, which was due to arrive in Toronto at 8 p.m. today, started its journey on Tuesday afternoon in Vancouver.
Police are investigating to see if there is "any criminal element" to the situation, Nichols said.
The remaining passengers were initially quarantined aboard the train and emergency personnel with full protective gear went car to car to examine them, assisted by a doctor who was aboard the train.
Foleyet resident Judy Bromley, who can see the train from the front window of her home, said she first noticed it had stopped around 9:30 a.m.
Bromley said a coroner's van had been on the scene, and that three ambulances and three to four police cars remained outside the station late in the morning.
Word about the quarantined train is spreading throughout the small town, she added.
Bromley also said a large orange helicopter has landed in the baseball field near the tracks.
She said a CN official told her passengers were taken off the train and led to a railway rooming house nearby. She said railway employees use the two-story bunkhouse during layovers. The facility, located beside the Foleyet station, has 30 to 40 rooms.
Bromley said she saw ambulance workers outside her home preparing to enter the train. "They stopped outside, put on white suits and masks, then got back in and left."
Police blocked the entrance to the local CN yard at Young St. and Railway Ave.
Another resident said she saw at least two people loaded onto an air ambulance.
At midday, Timmins and District Hospital spokesperson Kali Garneau said one passenger had been airlifted there and was listed in stable condition.
Dr. Donald Low, the medical director of Ontario's public health lab, said he doesn't believe an exotic disease such as SARS or avian flu is responsible.
"It doesn't fit the profile because of the explosive nature of this event," said Low, who helped co-ordinate efforts to contain Toronto's SARS outbreak.
Low said food poisoning isn't likely either because it "usually doesn't kill you" and that is associated with gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea.
He said early indications suggest that influenza may be the cause.
"You've got 10 people showing the same symptoms," he said. "I think it could be an outbreak of influenza. This (death) is typical of an older person who maybe has an underlying heart disease."
Both SARS and avian flu take several days to manifest themselves, but
the illness that struck the passengers appeared to come on suddenly, he noted.
Low said he will know more when the public health lab in Toronto gets specimens from the health lab in Timmins, likely within the next 24 hours.
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.
"They're more highly trained than regular ambulance crews," she added, noting the ministry is keeping a close watch on the situation and is working with the provincial agency Emergency Management Ontario.
Chris Woo, front office manager at Decore Hotels in Jasper, said passengers who board or get off in the resort mountain town stay in different places.
"They don't stay as one group but some go on to other places and others continue on to Toronto," said Woo this morning.
Helen Kelleher-Empey with Jasper Tourism and Chamber of Commerce said passengers who pass through the town of 4,500 via the train arrive from all over Canada and the United States.
"The train picks up people who come up from the States from Amtrak, and drops off people who come form Edmonton and others go on to Saskatchewan," she said. "We call ourselves the train hub of the Rockies."
Toronto resident Karen Maxwade believes her 73-year-old mother, June, is on the train. She said she has contacted Via Rail but has mostly been left in the dark.
?I asked if the train originated in Vancouver and they said they couldn?t tell me that," Maxwade said. "Then I asked if they could check if a certain passenger was on the train I was told they couldn?t give me that information.?
Maxwade said her mother was expected to arrive at 8 p.m. this evening at Union Station, the same time as the quarantined train.
With files from Rob Ferguson, Joseph Hall and Petti Fong
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
I'll stick with infectious disease that began prior to boarding train in Jasper. Still sounds like most or all affected passengers belonged to the same tour group that were sitting in two of the passenger cars. Origin of tour group would be useful (I suspect they boarded train in Vancouver and Jasper was a stop on tour).Originally posted by ironorehopper View PostComment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
[As reported above, train service currently disrupted in the line. - IOH]
Canadian train quarantined after death
Published: May 9, 2008 at 1:15 PM
SUDBURY, Ontario, May 9 (UPI) --
Canadian officials in northern Ontario quarantined a Via Rail passenger train Friday after a passenger died and 10 others became sick.
Via Rail spokeswoman Catherine Kaloutsky told CTV News one person died on the Toronto-bound train from British Columbia carrying some 260 passengers and 30 crew in the small town of Foleyet, near Sudbury.
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Laura Nichols told the broadcaster one sick person was airlifted to a hospital while the others were taken by land ambulances.
She said there was no immediate explanation for the flu-like symptoms that swept the passengers in two cars.
CN Rail spokesman Frank Binder told CTV rail operations in the area have shut down.
"Our crews have come to a complete stop at that location and they are dealing with emergency personnel there," he said.
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
One person dead, passenger train quarantined
Zosia Bielski, National Post Published: Friday, May 09, 2008
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John Kenney/National PostA Via Rail train was quarantined Friday in Northern Ontario as a flu-like illness left one dead and others in hospital
FOLEYET, Ont. -- A Via Rail train has been quarantined in Northern Ontario after a female passenger became ill and died Friday and others on board reported similar flu-like symptoms.
Officials say all of the 264 passengers are being kept on board.
Laurel Ostfield, of the Ontario Ministry of Health, said highly trained paramedics in full protective gear and two air ambulances are on the scene.
"We're taking precautions and we did learn lessons from SARS so our medical teams and the health care system in general have learned that you would put safety first. We're taking precautions and this is why the train has been quarantined at this point," Ms. Ostfield said.
OPP Const. Marc Depatie told CBC News that "unconfirmed reports" suggest the woman who died was ill when she boarded the train as part of a tour group in Jasper, Alta. She was reportedly in her 60s.
He said other people on the four-day rail journey from Vancouver to Toronto have also reported "similar but not extreme" flu-like symptoms and that one other passenger was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Timmins, Ont. Other reports said 10 passengers had been taken to hospital. There is a doctor on the train who is providing medical assistance.
Only fire and ambulance officials in full protective gear are being allowed on and off the train.
"The whole place is being overrun with ambulances and police cars, and we've got helicopters,'' said Deborah DesRochers, chairwoman of the town of 380 about 100 kilometres southwest of Timmins.
``They've got the train quarantined. They're trying to isolate what it is.''
Health Canada officials are trying to determine the medical situation.
"The train is stopped for medical reasons," Via Rail spokeswoman Catherine Kaloutsky. "VIA is in contact with all the appropriate authorities. We are taking all precautions to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers and crew on board."
Ken Kennedy is part of a crew from a CN train that was directly behind the quarantined VIA rail train. He and other CN staff waited inside Foleyet's Northern Lights Restaurant after emergency crews quarantined a CN bunkhouse approximately 100 feet from the passenger train.
"They got it cordoned off down by the train and they got masks on, there's ambulance and hospital staff. It's quite a bit of action going on. Nobody's allowed in or out of the CN bunkhouse. It's close to the tracks, it's too close to the main line, you're only talking 100 feet from the train. So they called us and said we're all to head up to the restaurant."
Mr. Kennedy said crews have also moved the VIA passenger train onto an alternate track to let other east and westbound trains pass through Foleyet.
CN Rail reported the incident to police at 8:30 a.m., saying the woman had respiratory problems and that she showed no vital signs.
The passenger train stopped about 40 kilometres west of the town of Foleyet.
The train -- also known as the Canadian -- was scheduled to arrive in Toronto Friday evening.
Other stops along the trip include: Sudbury Junction, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Alta. and Kamloops, B.C.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=504180
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
A spokeswoman for Via Rail said the train departed Vancouver three days ago and hadn’t reported any problems before Friday.
Three days travelling close together, being elderly and stressed by the journey, you are vulnerable for a (viral) infection?Comment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Via train quarantined
One dead, 10 in hospital suffering from 'flu-like' symptoms Are you on the train or know someone who is? If so, we want to hear from you. Call our City Desk at 416-947-2211 or e-mail us at torsun.citydesk@sunmedia.ca
Fri, May 9, 2008
A Toronto-bound Via train has been quarantined after one woman died and others reported flu-like symptoms this morning.
Ten passengers are being treated at Timmins and District Hospital.
The train departed from Vancouver and was stopped in Foleyet, abut 100 km west of Timmins.
The affected passengers were on two of the train cars, but the entire train was placed under quarantine. cases. Laurel Ostfield, a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman, could not identify the source of the illness but said protocols developed following the deadly SARS outbreak are being followed.
"At this point, we're putting safety first, making sure staff on site are being protected," she said.
Ostfield said the ministry remains confident that the Timmins hospital will be able to handle the cases.
There were 260 people and 30 crew on the train.
Sudbury resident Sarah Guerreiro was visiting her mother, Alanna Sawyer, when the pandemonium broke out. Sawyer, a resident of Foleyet for the past two years, works at the bunk house beside the train station.
Guerreiro described the scene as ?scary,? and said there was a lot of confusion among Foleyet residents about what was happening.
?There was yellow tape everywhere,? she told Sun Media. ?No one could get anywhere on the CN yard.?
Police and emergency crews weren?t letting anyone off the train, she said, and a helicopter landed with what appeared to be physicians and they loaded one passenger up and took off.
?They were all well prepared,? she said. ?It was really scary.?
Other residents of the northern Ontario were on pins and needles waiting for word on whether they should vacate or whether they will be quarantined.
"It is the talk of the town," said Dave Ethier, bartender at the Northern Lights Tavern. While there are more ambulances in town than usual and plenty of press calling, he said, it's pretty well business as usual.
"I have a restaurant full of people," he said.
And no one is going anywhere and no one is particularly concerned about being quarantined.
"I don't think it will happen," he said.
Martine Desrochers, 20, isn't so sure. She said word on the street of the 250-person hamlet is a quarantine is very possible.
"That is what I am hearing," she said, adding although she is "a little bit" scared, she's not too worried.
"The closests place we could go is Timmins," she said, adding people there are used to be isolated and hearty. "It's a logging town."
Across the street from Northern Lights Tavern at the Foleyet General Store Jane Armstrong said she is also remaining open for business and treating it like a normal day.
"It's pretty well the same as it was the morning," she said, adding they haven't had this much excitement in this town since there were some floods "years ago."
She had the Via train in question is still at the station and the people of the town feel for this stuck on board. They are in a wait and see. "It is something different," added Ethier. "But things happen when you live on a railway line."
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Patient in hospital diagnosed as "upper respiratory illness".Comment
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Re: Canada: train quarantined; one person died, others have flu-like symptoms
Death On Toronto-Bound Via Rail Train
Friday May 9, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
A woman has died and 10 other passengers are in hospital after a flu-like outbreak on board a Via Rail train. The train, travelling from Vancouver to Toronto, is now under quarantine near Timmins.
Marc Depatie of the Foleyet OPP said that the female passenger was picked up in Jasper, Alberta with a tour group and appears to be in her 60s. It's not known if she was travelling with family.
There were 260 passengers and 30 crewmembers on board the train when it stopped in Foleyet. It's now quarantined at a CN Rail station.
Emergency crews in full protective gear searched the affected cars. It's believed, but not certain, that the outbreak is confined to only two cars. No one except emergency personnel is allowed on or off the trains. There is a doctor on board.
Sgt Laura Nichols, OPP said that she was called by CN at 8:35am Friday. "There was one person who had vital signs absent and five other people that were sick with flu-like symptoms," she reported.
That number quickly increased to ten, and all were taken to Timmins and District Hospital. One person was taken by air ambulance.
"The Timmins District Hospital is a regional hospital, and I'm confident they can handle it," Nichols allowed.
The tiny town - population 380- is coping with a flurry of activity.
"The whole place is being overrun with ambulances and police cars, and we've got helicopters," said Deborah DesRochers, chairwoman of the town. "They've got the train quarantined. They're trying to isolate what it is."
However, the OPP is confident Foleyet can cope. "We're implementing our emergency action plan," Depatie explained. "So that if there is a need for evacuation or if there's a need to contain these persons on the long-term basis, we're able to do that efficiently."
Passengers are helping out police with their investigation.
"We have their cooperation at present. We appreciate that very much," Depatie said. The OPP has not yet boarded the train, as the origin of the outbreak has not yet been determined.
"From an OPP perspective, all sudden deaths are deemed to be suspicious in nature until we determine the root cause," Depatie outlined. "So with that in mind, our crime unit is at the scene taking preliminary information down so we can perform an investigation of the event."
The train was due to arrive in Toronto about 8pm Friday. If you're looking for a relative or friend, Nichols confirms that an incident commander is en route. "He'll be working with local officials to try and get some processes together to help out those people, to get in contact," she says.
The cause of the outbreak has not yet been determined. It could be biological, chemical, or food-related.
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have also been called in. They are collaborating with provincial and regional authorities. http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_22540.aspx
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