A train collision Sunday in La Broquerie has claimed the life of a 78-year-old woman from Winnipeg. 

"It's tragic," says La Broquerie Reeve Ivan Normandeau. "It's been tough."

At approximately 12:40 pm, Steinbach RCMP responded to a report of a pedestrian being struck by a train at the railway crossing on Rue Principale in La Broquerie. Officers attended the location and located a 78-year-old female from Winnipeg. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Steinbach RCMP, along with CN Police, continue to investigate. 

The tragedy happened as the Saint Jean Baptiste parade was coming to an end Sunday afternoon. Witnesses say the woman and her male companion were trying to cross in front of the oncoming train. Many suggested the busyness and noise of the parade may have been distracting and contributed to the accident.

"Unfortunately, a lot of kids saw what went on," says Normandeau. "It's a tragic event that doesn't need to happen."

Normandeau says a big thank you to the La Broquerie Fire Department for attending Sunday's difficult call. 

"These things are very, very difficult for all of them," says Normandeau. "I know that the fire department sometimes don't ever get a pat on the back, but for sure they need that because these are tough situations to witness and even to go there and manage the site."

As mentioned, there were many children nearby at the time of Sunday's tragic collision. Teresa Hampton is Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for Seine River School Division. She says on Sunday, following the incident, Administration met with the officials at Arborgate School and the crisis response team to come up with a plan for what Monday would look like. 

"The school team will be meeting with all of the teachers, providing them with a little bit of an outline of a script of how they can share this news and how to respond to students," says Hampton. "Because we don't know exactly who may have been impacted or directly witnessed the event, the individual teachers will meet with their students in their classrooms and right off the hop kind of identify which students seem to be impacted."

Hampton says a letter was sent to parents letting them know of school psychologists and social workers who will be in attendance at the school. She notes some parents reached out to let the school know that their child may be impacted. In this way, support workers can respond immediately to those students. 

"We do anticipate those supports being there all week and kind of gauging the needs within the school," she says, noting they will also determine whether some students might also need one-on-one or small group sessions to process the information. 

Hampton says they are asking the teachers to try and keep this week as normal and predictable as possible and also a little quieter. 

She adds that not only are they looking out for students, but there will also be supports in place for staff, including a designated space they can retreat to.

Because this is the last week of school, Hampton says they will be sending out a letter at the end of the week providing direction to parents and families on who to call and where to find support after the year ends.

Meanwhile, Hampton says the division would like to extend its condolences to the family of the 78-year-old woman. She adds their thoughts are with the community, those who were first on scene, and with those directly impacted. 

 

With files from Dave Anthony and Corny Rempel

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