Canadian Pacific is confirming in a statement that three of its rail crew were killed in a derailment near Field this morning.

The derailment happened around 1:00 am Mountain Time and resulted in the locomotive ending up in the river.

We are learning more about the accident as Greg Edwards with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference says the train fell into the Kicking Horse river off a train trestle.

“It went off a bridge. It was a considerable distance from the track to the river. They went down quite a ways. I am told it was a couple hundred feet or so.”

Edwards says it was an awful phone call to receive “It is just terrible. I got the call in the middle of the night and it was one of the worst call you want to take.”

Canadian Pacific President and CEO Keith Creel has identified the three men who were killed as Conductor Dylan Paradis, Engineer Andrew Dockrell, and trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer.

Creel says the derailment happened between the Upper and Lower Spiral Tunnels in the Rockies one of the steepest grades on the line and one with strict instructions for how trains should handle it.

“In the hours ahead we remain focused on employee safety and the safety of our first responders, in addition to working closely with the families of the deceased and all our employees. This is a tragedy that will have a long-lasting impact on our family of railroaders. The incident is under investigation and we will not speculate at this time on a cause – we owe it to those involved to get it right.”

Canadian Pacific says no dangerous goods were involved and NL has learned the train was carrying grain.

CP say a full investigation will be conducted to determine what happened.

The Transportation Safety Board has also dispatched investigators to the scene.

 

With files from the Canadian Press.