Desjardins Canal disaster

1857 rail transport disaster

Desjardins Canal disaster
A sketch of the Desjardins Canal disaster.

Details
Date	March 12, 1857 (1857-03-12)
Location	Hamilton, Canada West, British North America
Incident type	Train wreck
Cause	Bridge collapse
Statistics
Trains	1
Passengers	90
Deaths	59^[1]
Injured	18^[2]

The Desjardins Canal disaster was a rail transport disaster near Hamilton, Canada West. The train wreck occurred at 6:15 p.m. on March 12, 1857 (1857-03-12) when a train on the Great Western Railway crashed through a bridge over the Desjardins Canal, causing the train and its passengers to fall 18 metres (60 ft) into the ice below.^[1] With 59 deaths, it is considered one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.^[2]

Recovery and rescue

The train had ninety passengers. Most in the last train car survived but others on the train either drowned or succumbed to injury.^[1] Locomotive lamps and fires were built to illuminate the scene to aid in rescue efforts. Ropes and ladders were lowered to bring the dead and wounded out of the train cars. One car, partially submerged, was accessed with axes by rescuers.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Desjardins Canal Disaster". Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. 1857-04-04.
^ ^a ^b "10 of Canada's worst train accidents". Maclean's. 9 July 2013. and one of the deadliest bridge collapses in history.