There could be a slim silhouette of good news following the tragic southwestern Ontario crash that left few alive earlier this week, as at least one of the survivors continues to recover and is no longer considered to be on death's door.
Juan Ariza, 35, had his condition upgraded to fair from critical following Monday's crash. He was initially taken to a Stratford hospital in critical condition, but is now listed in fair condition at the London Health Sciences Centre.
Ariza was one of only three survivors from the crash between a passenger van of migrant workers and a flatbed truck at an intersection in the tiny hamlet of Hampstead, Ont.
Javier Abelardo Alba-Medina, 38, is also at the London hospital in fair condition.
The family of Edgar Sulla-Puma, 26, who was airlifted from the crash site to Hamilton General Hospital in critical condition, has asked the hospital not to release further updates to the public.
Ten migrant workers in the passenger van and the truck driver, 38-year-old Chris Fulton, were all killed in the grisly crash.
The migrant workers were all originally from Peru and were employed at a poultry farm vaccinating chickens near the crash site. Fulton was celebrating his wedding anniversary the day of the crash.
A prayer service for the victims is being held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Stratford, Ont., on Friday at 7 p.m. The local diocese says the service will host victims of the crash and their families, and will pay tribute to the emergency workers who responded to the scene.
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board says Ariza and the other workers injured in the crash will be eligible for health care coverage. The WSIB said the survivors will also receive wage-loss benefits and full health care coverage
But despite the WSIB's assurances, a group of legal aid lawyers is warning that the survivors may not end up with the treatment they deserve.
The Industrial Accident Victims Group of Ontario says that if recent trends continue, the men are likely to be deported and lose access to workers' compensation.
"We're very pleased to hear that families of the men who died will receive compensation, but at the same time, we have to ask what's going to happen to the men who survived," Maryth Yachnin, a lawyer with the group, told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
"In our experience, what happens to migrant workers is shortly after (they get injured), they are deported to their home country," and lose any rights to compensation benefits, she said.
"Frankly, we think it's absurd," Yachnin said, adding that many migrant workers don't report their injuries out of fear of deportation.
The victims' group says the WSIB often avoids payments by insisting the claimant can find another job in the province. But for migrant workers, whose visas are short-term and tied to their employer, that is rarely the case.
