Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Surveyors measure at the crash scene in Hampstead, Ont., on Tuesday, Feb. 7 2012 where a van and truck collision killed 11 people on Monday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Frank Gunn

LONDON, Ont. - A van carrying 13 migrant workers from Peru ran a stop sign before it was broadsided by a truck and the "violent" impact killed 11 people at a rural intersection, police said Wednesday.

The driver, David Armando Hernandez Blancas, 45, was one of the workers killed in the crash and had been in Ontario for some time, living in New Hamburg, not far from the crash site. He had an Ontario driver's licence, but not the type required to drive a van of that size, investigators said.

"This crash did not have to happen," said Chief Supt. John Cain of Ontario Provincial Police. "These lives need not have been lost. Driver error is the largest contributing factor to collisions in Ontario."

Sixteen workers had just finished a shift vaccinating chickens at a nearby poultry farm when 13 people piled into one van and three left in another vehicle.

The westbound GMC passenger van did not stop at a stop sign at the intersection in the tiny hamlet of Hampstead, Ont. It drove into the path of a southbound freightliner straight truck on roads with 80 kilometre-per-hour speed limits, police said.

Investigators are looking at many other factors, including mechanical fitness and sight lines at the intersection, to fully determine what happened in the "violent" collision, said provincial police Insp. Scott Lawson.

When paramedics and volunteer fire crews arrived at the scene of the horrific crash, five people were already dead. Firefighters had to perform a "difficult extraction" to get to the victims, and the others died while paramedics tried to save them.

The truck driver, Christopher Fulton, 38, from London, was killed. His employer, Speedy Transport CEO Jared Martin, said Fulton was celebrating his 11th wedding anniversary on the day of the accident.

In addition to the driver, the Peruvian workers killed were: Jose Mercedes Valdiviezo-Taboa, 49, Cesar Augusto Sanchez-Palacios, 53, Enrique Arturo Leon, 47, Corsino Jaramillo, 47, Mario Abril, 48, Oscar Compomanes-Corzo, Juan Castillo, Elvio Bravo-Suncion and Fernando Correa.

Police are still trying to determine the ages of four of the victims.

Three people from the van survived and remain in hospital. Edgar Sulla-Puma, 26, was airlifted from the crash site to Hamilton General Hospital, where he is in critical condition. Juan Ariza, 35, is in critical condition in hospital in Stratford.

Javier Abelardo Alba-Medina, 38, is in fair condition at London Health Sciences Centre.

The van was capable of carrying 15 people and Ontario law requires the driver of a vehicle that transports more than 11 passengers hold at least a class F licence, but the driver had only a regular G licence, police said.

"This tragedy underscores the importance of maintaining safe driving practices at all times," Cain said. "As we've seen tragically in this case, failure to follow the rules of the road can have a grievous and regrettable impact on lives."

The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is offering coverage for families of the victims, including the costs of repatriating their bodies to Peru and paying health-care expenses through Ontario's health insurance for the survivors in hospital.

The United Food and Commercial Workers union and the Agriculture Workers Alliance have set up a fund to assist the workers' families and the family of the truck driver. Donations can be made through PayPal or TD Canada Trust.

The Township of Perth East has also set up an account in trust to assist families of the victims and donations to that fund can be made at any CIBC branch.

A non-denominational prayer service will be held Friday evening for the victims at 7 p.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Stratford. The Diocese of London says the service is for victims of the crash and their families, as well as to recognize emergency personnel.

By Allison Jones in Toronto.