more detailed article on the crash in Maine

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From the ton (ME) Sun-Journal

Crash is deadliest traffic accident in Maine history

By Glenn

Associated Press Writer

Fourteen migrant workers died Thursday when a van plunged off a one-lane bridge

in the worst traffic accident in state history, public safety officials said.

The lone survivor escaped through a back window of the van as it sank in 15 feet

of water in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, said McCausland of the

Maine Public Safety Department.

The state medical examiner's office confirmed that the bodies of 14 men were

retrieved from the water Thursday afternoon, McCausland said.

The accident happened at 8 a.m. on 's Bridge, a one-lane wooden bridge with

no railings at the entrance to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, a

state-administered area popular with canoeists 300 miles north of Portland.

It was the deadliest accident in state history, surpassing the 1958 collision of

a car and tanker truck that claimed seven lives in Richmond, he said.

The survivor reported that the van was traveling at 70 mph on a dirt logging

road before arriving on the bridge, McCausland said. There is no speed limit on

logging roads, which are privately owned.

While crossing the narrow bridge, one of the van's tires hit the curb on the

side, then rode on top of the curb for a short distance before the van plummeted

into the water, McCausland said.

State police and divers had to scramble to get to the site aboard float planes

and helicopters.

The accident happened in a rugged wilderness area between Churchill and Eagle

lakes on the 92-mile Allagash waterway. The site was 90 miles from the nearest

paved state road, McCausland said.

" We're talking a remote area that's accessible only by a very long dirt road or

a float plane, " said Mark Latti, a game warden spokesman. " It's an area that few

people frequent in the northern Maine woods. "

The survivor and four victims were from Guatemala; the other 10 victims were

from Honduras, McCausland said. They were on their way to their job clearing

plots of land when the accident happened.

By late afternoon, the van had been removed with the bodies inside. The van was

upside down in the back of a flatbed truck, and a crane, several police cars,

helicopters and float planes were at the scene.

The survivor, who is in his 20s, was taken to a nearby campsite five miles away,

McCausland said. A Spanish-speaking interpreter was brought to the scene to

assist investigators in interviewing the survivor.

McCausland said the survivor said he escaped through the van's window, but it

was unclear if he broke it out or it was broken in the crash. The man then

climbed out of the water and flagged down a passing motorist.

Several hours later, it was peaceful again. From above, the lakes looked like an

hourglass with the 260-foot bridge separating them. The only thing visible for

as far as the eye could see were trees.

The crew worked for a contractor clearing brush and small trees so larger trees

could flourish on land owned by Seven Islands Land Co.

Seven Islands Land Co., which owns more than 900,000 acres in Maine, had hired

several contractors and the men worked for a subcontractor for one of them, said

Cashwell, Seven Islands president. The victims ages and hometowns were not

available.

" It's awful, " Cashwell said. " Personally and professionally I'm feeling a great

deal of sorrow and we're helping the best way we can. "

A high wind advisory was in effect at the time of the accident, according to the

National Weather Service office in Caribou, but McCausland said troopers doubt

that wind played a role in the accident.

" They're looking at speed, " he said.

The tragedy was reminiscent of another crash in 1998 involving a vanload of

Mexican workers in Township 12, Range 10.

Two of the 15 laborers were killed when their van went out of control because of

a flat tire. Those workers were employed by an Arkansas company under contract

with Bowater Inc., a major newsprint maker.

Gov. Angus King said that he would contact the leaders of the victims' home

nations to express his condolences on the tragedy. " We will continue to do

whatever we can to help those people who lost a loved one in this terrible

accident, " he said.