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Three Via Rail employees were killed and dozens of passengers were sent to hospital when a train derailed in Burlington, Ont., on its way to Toronto Sunday afternoon.

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“There were one locomotive and five cars on the train, all of which derailed,” Via Rail said in a statement Sunday night.

Via said three passengers were airlifted to hospital with serious injuries and 42 other passengers and one crew member were also taken to local hospitals.

A passenger told the Hamilton Spectator that there was “sheer panic” on the train.

“It felt like we hit some bumps in the road and then the train jumped and it kept jumping and it tipped over to the side,” Hannah Lemke, 22, told the newspaper. “Everything went flying, people were screaming. It felt like forever. I’m sure it was only a couple of seconds.”

The rail company said it was trying to determine what caused the accident in conjunction with the Transportation Safety Board, which was sending a team to the scene to investigate the crash.