accident

What can go wrong when roads intersect with railways

Two teenagers were struck by freight trains in Ontario and Alberta on Monday in horrific accidents just hours apart. According to police, a 16-year-old boy was hit by a train as he crossed a rail line in Oshawa, Ont. while texting and listening to music on headphones. He was airlifted to a Toronto hospital, but later died of his injuries. He has not been identified. Hours later, Daniel Michael McPherson, a 19-year-old high-school student, was struck and killed by a freight train in Leduc, Alta., south of Edmonton, while walking between the rails. He was also reportedly wearing headphones, the RCMP said.  Serious injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones have more than tripled since 2004, according to a recent study by the University of Maryland. According to the research, three quarters of these accidents are fatal, and the victims almost always male teenagers.

Sailing across the ocean is never really a breeze. Three Canadians learned that the hard way in the middle of the night on Wednesday. Edmonton residents Bradley James, his brother Mitchell, and Bradley’s nine-year-old son, West, were sailing from Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico, to Hilo, in Hawaii. At about 4:30 in the afternoon on Tuesday and still short of Hawaii by about 450 kilometres, a storm broke the mast of their 12-metre sailboat and the engine stopped working after overheating. They sent a distress signal and the Reliance, a container ship more than 200 kilometres northeast of the sailboat, was alerted by the U.S. Coast Guard to help.

‘I’ve never seen anything like it’

No injuries to students reported

The plethora of wipe outs during the international training week was a big concern going into the Games