Woman dies, three fall ill aboard Toronto-bound VIA Rail train

An elderly woman is dead and three other passengers were taken to hospital Saturday after developing flu-like symptoms on an eastbound VIA Rail train.

The train, headed to Toronto from Vancouver, was stopped in Parry Sound, Ont., for six hours starting at 5 a.m. after an 86-year-old woman was reported to be unconscious and unresponsive. Emergency crews boarded the train and confirmed the woman had died.

The two compartments occupied by the passengers were quarantined, and the train arrived in Toronto just before 4 p.m.

The train left Vancouver on Christmas Day. The woman who later died had boarded in Edmonton on Dec. 26 with two relatives.

Joanne Woodward, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Ministry of Health, said they are still awaiting test results to determine the cause of the illness. A post-mortem examination is expected Sunday. The Ontario Provincial Police are withholding the woman’s identity until all family members are notified.

Health officials say it’s not believed any other passengers or the train’s crew were exposed to the ailing passengers taken off the train.

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Train 2 was travelling eastbound through McDougall Township, approximately 250 km north of Toronto, when an 86-year-old woman was discovered “unconscious and unresponsive,” police said.

Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday.

Three other passengers taken to hospital for treatment, Via Rail said.

Carrying 200 passengers and 13 crew, the train left Vancouver on Christmas Day evening and was scheduled to arrive in Toronto at 9:30 Saturday morning.

The senior, whose name has not been released, boarded the train in Edmonton with two relatives, police said.

Via Rail said it quarantined the two rooms occupied by the sick passengers, as is the company's standard procedure.

After about a six-hour delay, the train continued to its destination.http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...ml?cid=rssnews