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One person is dead after a casino tour bus and a car collided at the Hunter Street GO Transit station Sunday afternoon.

The front end of the small car was badly smashed and debris was strewn across the front of the James Street South parking lot as police probed the scene.

The driver was alone in the car and died before paramedics could provide help, said Jeff Dunford, south operations supervisor.

An ambulance crew was the first to come across the crash less than a minute after it happened shortly after 3 p.m.

“They turned the corner and there’s an accident and they called it in,” said Dunford. “The 911 lines lit up at the same time … They just happened to be coming down the road … Basically, we were there right away.”

The bus run by Casino Vacations and Spotlight Daycations was evacuated and multiple ambulances were sent to the scene. But most of the passengers were gone before emergency responders arrived.

“Everybody just left,” Dunford said.

Hamilton police didn’t return calls asking for more details Sunday evening.

James Street South at Hunter Street was closed for several hours following the crash.

The bus driver and a handful of passengers returning from Fallsview Casino weren’t injured.

The bus’s windshield was shattered.

A passenger, who did not want to be identified due to privacy concerns, said the bus was turning left into the GO station from James when the collision happened.

HSR buses were being redirected to Main and Hughson streets.

GO buses were running on time.

Casino Vacations and Spotlight Daycations buses were running 40 minutes late, according to a message on the company’s answering machine around 5:20 p.m.

The company cancelled the 3:10 p.m. run to the casino because of the accident involving its bus, which was scheduled to arrive at the GO station at the same time.

“Due to the accident we cannot get our coaches into this area,” stated the message.

The company did not return a call for comment.


Source: The Hamilton Spectator