The family of five siblings killed in a collision between a passenger van and an SUV last month in Mapleton Township in southern Ontario have hired a lawyer to help them find out what exactly happened.
The two-vehicle collision occurred around 7:30 p.m. ET on June 12 at the intersection of 4th Line and Wellington Road 12.
Of the 10 people in the van, eight were members of the Doerksen family. Peter, 12, Helena, 10, Sara, 8, Maggie, 6, and Susy, 4, were killed. Their baby brother suffered a broken leg and their parents were injured. The mother, Judit, was taken to hospital.
Another couple, Peter and Elizabeth Bartsch, were also in the van. Elizabeth was also taken to hospital with injuries.
A 42-year-old man from Brampton, the driver and only occupant of the SUV, died in hospital.
The Doerksen family’s Windsor-area lawyer will help investigate the circumstances of the collision.
Greg Monforton and Partners, Injury Lawyers, said in a news release on Thursday that the “crash is believed to have occurred when an SUV failed to obey a stop sign and struck the victims’ vehicle.”
Ontario community in shock after crash kills 5 children
“The monumental kind of nature of this tragedy for the family is kind of extraordinary. So they’re really looking for any information that people would have about that intersection or the driver of the vehicle that struck them, and they’re really looking to find out more details about what happened,” managing partner Joanna Sweet told CBC News in an interview.
Sweet said that according to the van’s driver, it was struck by the SUV.
“He witnessed the SUV going through the stop sign and striking,” Sweet said. “[The SUV] struck the rear of the vehicle, the van that my clients were driving, which is also, unfortunately, where the five children were seated.”
Rural Ontario communities reeling with grief after crash that killed 5 children
6th person dead in hospital after fatal collision in Mapleton, Ont.: OPP
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have not yet released their findings about the cause of the collision.
“The investigation into this collision remains ongoing,” Sgt. Ed Sanchuk told CBC News in an email on Thursday.
“As such, the OPP are unable to provide further information at this time. Any information that can be publicly released will be provided as it becomes available.”
Friends and family attended the June 20 funeral for the five children, at a rural church just outside Elmira.
The second-oldest daughter, Nancy Doerksen, started a A GoFundMe campaign was started shortly after the crash.
On June 15, she shared that her 15-month-old brother had been released from hospital earlier with a broken leg and her father, Cornelius Doerksen Froese, was still recovering from injuries at home.
In an update on the website on June 30, Nancy said they had decided to close the fundraiser and thanked people for their “overwhelming generosity.”
Another update, on July 1, said her mother and Elizabeth Bartsch were both home from the hospital but “still in the healing process. We are very thankful with how far they have come.”
Sweet said the family has appreciated the support of strangers.
“The family would like to thank first responders and thank the community for the outpouring of support that they’ve had throughout this difficult time.”
