The jury at a coroner's inquest into the deaths of three Indo-Canadian women in a van crash, ruled the collision ‘accidental’ while making 18 recommendations.

It released its findings on Thursday.

Sarabjit Sidhu, 31, Amarjit Bal, 52, and Sukhwinder Punia, 46 were killed in March 2007 when the van they were traveling in, flipped over on the Trans-Canada Highway onto a concrete median. The van was overloaded and had seatbelts for just two of the 17 people inside.

The jury also recommended that 15-passenger vans be classified as high-risk vehicles, that farm workers be given better education about their rights and that the provincial transportation ministry look into replacing concrete highway barriers with steel cable barriers.

Mandatory seatbelt use and on-site inspections of all vehicles used by the current 92 labour contractors were also recommended.

Meanwhile family members of the crash victims, demanding stricter punishment for driver of the van, voiced anger at the inquest.

The driver, Harwinder Gill, was fined $2,000 for driving without a proper licence and without reasonable consideration.

In 2008, police recommended 33 criminal charges against Harwinder and her husband, Ranjit Gill, but the charges were not approved by Crown counsel.

The Gills were also fined $69,000 following an investigation by WorkSafeBC. But that fine was never paid.