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Some desiccated flowers, a weathered wreath, and an assortment of votive candles mark the spot of a searing and senseless tragedy: the crash at Westboro Station.

It has been one year since a westbound double-decker bus, OC Transpo 8155, smashed into the station’s steel awning on a cold, clear day in January. The leading edge of that awning sliced into the second floor of the bus, crushing those in its path. Seats on the passenger side of the bus were bulldozed; the legs of trapped passengers were squeezed as if in a vise.

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“There was glass and metal and screaming and heat,” passenger Jessica Service said in describing the moment of impact.

Three OC Transpo commuters, Bruce Thomlinson, Anja Van Beek and Judy Booth, died. Dozens more were injured, some of them grievously. Firefighters had to free suffering passengers one by one by cutting their seats from the bus floor.

The stark horror of the scene is hard to conjure during a visit to Westboro Station on a quiet day in late December.