3 Filipinos die in another car crash in Canada

SAN FRANCISCO  – Three Filipino workers–including a newly married couple–returning from language classeswere killed in a highway crash Saturday afternoon, December 13, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.

Saturday’s incident was the second fatal crash on Alberta highways involving temporary foreign workers from the Philippines in three weeks.

The victims were returning to Rocky Mountain House from the classes in Red Deer in Alberta. Two men and a woman in a Ford Mustang died. A 25-year-old man, the Mustang’s driver, was in critical condition Sunday at the University of Alberta Hospital after the car collided with a five-ton moving truck, according to a report by the Edmonton Journal. 

Saturday’s crash happened just before 3 p.m., east of Rocky Mountain House on Highway 11 near Range Road 42, police said. The Mustang was westbound when it lost control and hit the north ditch.

After trying to get back on the road, the vehicle wound up facing east in the east­bound lane and was rear-ended by the approaching five-ton truck carrying two men. The driver and passenger in the moving truck were not injured, police said. The Mustang was crushed, according to police.

“The two who died, they were just newly married, two months ago,” said Lyla Gray, community services leader for the Edmonton Filipino Seventh-day Adventist Church, told the Journal. The names of the victims will be released upon notification of their next of kin.

The victims worked at the Dairy Queen in Rocky Mountain House, said Gray, who was getting calls from members of the Filipino community who want to donate money to support the families.

Saturday’s incident was the second fatal crash on Alberta highways involving temporary foreign workers from the Philippines in three weeks. Four Filipino workers died November 22 near Leduc.

Rocky Mountain House Mayor Fred Nash said the most recent census numbers showed there were about 500 Filipino temporary foreign workers in the community of about 7,500 people.

“It’s very sad,” Nash told the Journal. “We have a fairly large Filipino community and unfortunately this tragedy happens. They’re a very hard-working community and it just hurts.”