Van Crash Kills Migrant Workers

A van full of migrant workers veered off a one-lane bridge and plunged into a river in the northern Maine wilderness Thursday, killing 14 people in the deadliest traffic accident in state history, officials said.

The lone survivor escaped by kicking out the back window of the van as it sank in 15 feet of water 90 miles from the nearest paved state road, said Stephen McCausland of the Maine Public Safety Department.

The accident happened on an unpaved logging road near the entrance to the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, a state-administered area popular with canoeists 300 miles north of Portland. State police and divers had to scramble to get to the site aboard float planes and helicopters.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known. A high wind advisory was in effect at the time.

The van went off a single-lane wooden bridge with no railings, McCausland said.

Fourteen bodies were pulled from the van, McCausland said.

It was the worst traffic accident in state history, surpassing a crash that claimed seven lives in 1958, he said.

The survivor, who spoke Spanish, is part of a crew hired to clear land for Seven Islands Land Co., a timber company.

A similar accident involving a vanload of Mexican workers happened in northern Maine four years ago. Two of the 15 laborers were killed when the van went out of control because of a flat tire. The workers were employed by a company under contract to a newsprint manufacturer.