TTC driver helps seniors out of car stuck on tracks before train collision

A TTC bus driver helped four people out of a vehicle that had gotten stuck on a set of train tracks in Scarborough Thursday, minutes before a GO Train plowed into the vehicle, Toronto police say.

The incident happened around 5:55 p.m. on Finch Avenue East, east of Kennedy Road. A man had driven his vehicle left onto the railway tracks when he got stuck, Const. Laura Brabant told CBCTorontoin an email.

"A TTC bus operator observed the vehicle stuck on the railway tracks and assisted all of the occupants exiting the vehicle and kept them safe and warm on his bus," she said.

A few minutes later, a northbound GO Train on the Stouffville line hit the vehicle. There were no reported injuries, police say.

Amalgamated Transit Unit 113, the union that represents TTC drivers, told CBC News that the occupants of the vehicle were seniors, and the bus driver unbuckled them.

On Twitter, TTC officials heralded what happened as "incredibly heroic work" by a frontline employee, and added that "formal commendation will be awarded."