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.