CTV News Staff

Lax safety standards are partly to blame for the deaths of three farm workers in a horrific crash Wednesday morning in B.C., says a union spokesperson.

Three people died when a van carrying 17 women hit two transport trucks and rolled over on the Trans-Canada Highway near Abbotsford, B.C.

Two passengers were ejected from the vehicle as it rolled on the rain-slicked highway. The vehicle became impaled on the concrete median, the middle of the van's roof crushed down to the floor. Fourteen of the occupants were injured in the accident and taken to five different hospitals in the region.

Witnesses say the vehicle hydroplaned on a large puddle before it lost control and crashed into the trucks, although that has not been confirmed.

One report said the van has been designed for 10 people, but the seats had been removed and replaced with wooden benches. Unconfirmed reports also say the vehicle had no seatbelts.

RCMP Const. Dave Babineau of E-Division traffic said while investigators are still trying to sort out the sequence of events, "it has been confirmed that there was an impact between the van and the truck."

Babineau said the vehicle is a large van and was registered as a bus.

The crash happened around 6 a.m. local time. RCMP Const. Bert Paquet said it was rainy at the time of the crash, though it's still not clear whether that caused the van to lose control.

The crash happened on Highway 1 at Highway 11 in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. The victims were headed to work at a greenhouse just minutes away in Chilliwack.

The RCMP say it's too early to determine the cause of the accident, but all signs so far point to driver error.

WorkSafeBC is investigating the accident. It's not known yet if the bus was required to have seatbelts. A loophole in the Motor Vehicle Act allows some vehicles to operate without them.

WorkSafeBC spokesperson Scott McCloy said it depends on how the vehicle was registered.

"If it's registered as a bus it may not be required to have seatbelts in it," he told CTV British Columbia. "However, if seatbelts are in the vehicle anyway, they would be required to be worn under our regulation."

McCloy said his concern lies around the number of workers that would have been on board the vehicle.

"The weight of the number of workers can exceed the gross weight of the vehicle."

CTV British Columbia reported that coincidentally, a WorkSafeBC inspector visited the farm just two weeks ago, and that the vehicle involved in the crash passed an inspection last week on Feb. 28.

Meanwhile, the union representing B.C. farm labourers is accusing the provincial government of ignoring unsafe working conditions and mistreatment of agricultural workers in the valley.

Canadian Farmworkers Union leader Charan Gill said farm workers should not be dying in highway crashes on the way to work, and he put the blame squarely on the B.C. Liberals.

Gill said the government rolled back standards for inspecting farms and farm vehicles in 2001, and that despite his repeated attempts to draw attention to substandard farming operations, the government has refused to address the issue.

"It's the local government, our own government, the B.C. government, that was supposed to tighten up those regulations," he said.

The opposition, meanwhile, is calling on the government to launch a full public inquiry into the fatal accident.

Burnaby New Democrat MLA Raj Chouhan called on the government to reinstate the disbanded integrated agriculture compliance team that conducted comprehensive field visits to B.C. farms.

"During these inspections, the team could determine if the motor vehicle transporting workers was complying with regulations. Can the minister of labour commit today to reinstate the full agriculture compliance team so farm workers can get protection they deserve?" Chouhan, a past president of the Canadian Farmworkers' Union, said in question period in the legislature on Wednesday.

B.C. Solicitor General John Les said the crash is already under intense scrutiny by the RCMP, the coroner's service, the ministry of transportation and officials from WorkSafeBC He also warned that it's too early to draw conclusions about the cause of the accident.

Labour Minister Olga Ilich said her ministry conducted 82 site visits on B.C. farms last year.

Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said there are clear regulations about how many people can be in such a vehicle, while Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said the transportation of farmworkers is not exempt from any provincial regulations.

Several accidents in recent years have put the issue of safety regulations for farmworkers in the spotlight, including:

In July 2003, a woman died and several people were injured when a crowded minibus blew a tire and crashed. The workers were headed to pick fruit in the Fraser Valley.

In November 2003 , 10 farmworkers were hurt when a five-tonne truck crashed into their van in Abbotsford.

With reports from CTV British Columbia and the Canadian Press