OTTAWA, Ontario -- A Via Rail passenger train and a transit bus have collided at a crossing in Canada's capital, Ottawa, and a fire official tells a television station that there are "multiple fatalities."

Witnesses said Wednesday the front end of the double-decker bus was ripped off by the impact.

Ottawa Fire spokesman Mark Messier tells CP24 television there are "multiple fatalities" and a number on the bus are injured.

Messier said there were no injuries on the train.

The accident occurred just outside a suburban train station in the city's west end in the middle of the morning commute. (AP)