Teamsters call for coroner's inquest into conductor's death

The Teamsters union wants an inquiry to look into how two of their members were made to lie for hours in thetrapped wreckage of a derailed train in northern Manitoba last month, without medical attention.

The 38-year-old conductor was alive on impact and died more than ninehours after the derailment, according to information obtained by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.A second man, the 59-year-old engineer, survived the crash. He was cut free from the locomotive and flown to Winnipeg in critical condition. He has life-altering injuries.

According to an autopsy report obtained by the Teamsters, the conductor bled to death. The unionclaims paramedics were never allowed to attend to him because of concerns over diesel fuel leakage.

In a letter written by the Teamstersto the chief medical examiner of Manitoba,union vice-president Roland Hackl claims the engineer was cut loose and didn't get critical medical attention fromparamedics until more than nine hours after help was called.

"It is unclear why paramedics were not allowed to attend the wreck site or how that decision was made or by whom. These two men both survived the initial crash.The injuries sustained by the conductor were entirely survivable, assuming reasonable medical care. None was forthcoming," the letter says.

Hackl adds no one knew the pair needed help;they were discovered by chance by a prospector with a helicopter. The letter also states the firefighters didn't have the proper equipment to cut through hundreds of tons of steel trapping the men in the destroyed cab of the locomotive.

The CBC has contacted the officeof the chief medical examiner of Manitoba about the call for an inquest.

So far, there has been no response.