Police say there are multiple deaths after a Via Rail passenger train and a transit bus collided at a crossing in Canada's capital, Ottawa.

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

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

Pascal Lolgis, who witnessed the crash, said the bus appeared to drive through a lowered crossing barrier.

"Boom! It went into the train like that," Lolgis said. "`'He just didn't stop."