Significant injuries after school bus rolls over on icy highway: Manitoba RCMP
Several teens suffered significant injuries after the driver of a school bus lost control while trying to pass another vehicle in icy conditions on a rural Manitoba highway Tuesday, RCMP say.
Emergency crews responded to the crash site on Highway 10 at about 8:30 a.m. CT after reports of a school bus rollover just over 10 kilometres south of Mafeking, Man., RCMP said in a statement.
"Like any parent, this is everyone's worst nightmare," Rob Tomlinson, superintendent of the Swan Valley School Division in western Manitoba, told CBC News.
"Pretty beat up bus. We're really thankful there were no fatalities."
A forensic collision investigation continues, but preliminary details suggest the bus driver was heading southbound on Highway 10 and crashed after losing control while trying to pass another bus, according to RCMP.
Four of those injured — three teens and an adult — suffered "significant but non-life-threatening injuries" and were taken by air to hospital in Winnipeg, police said.
Three were taken to the Children’s Hospital and one to adult emergency, according to a statement from Shared Health, which co-ordinates health-care service delivery in Manitoba.
Several other students were treated for injuries at the scene and taken to Swan Valley Health Centre in the town of Swan River, about 380 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.
The Swan Valley School Division said in a statement the bus had 15 aboard — the driver and 14 students, ages 16 to 18, from Sapotaweyak Cree First Nation, about 100 kilometres northeast of Swan River.
The students were heading to Swan Valley Regional Secondary School and the Northern Lights Institute of Trades and Technology, or NITT.
CBC Manitoba weather specialist Riley Laychuk said conditions at the time of the bus crash meant roadways were prone to ice formation. Temperatures reached about 2 C Monday afternoon, with light precipitation, then cooled to around –3 C at 9 a.m. CT Tuesday.
This Sapotaweyak Cree Nation school bus rolled over on an icy road near Swan River in rural Manitoba on Tuesday. (Submitted by Wayne Moore)
"With the rain yesterday and the icy, slippery conditions today, the [bus] rolled," Sapotaweyak Chief Nelson Genaille told CBC News.
"What rushed to me right away was these are kids."
Genaille, who is a grandparent and great-grandparent himself, said he was with families and caregivers who travelled to the Swan River-based health centre to be with hospitalized students on Tuesday.
"When you expect your child to go to school, you're hoping that your child is going to make it to school."
Superintendent Tomlinson said family would've passed the scene en route to the health centre.
"Our parents are in shock," he said. "I'm sure they drove by that accident, and it was probably weighing pretty heavy on them about the welfare of their kids."
The school division sent three counsellors and a knowledge keeper to the health centre to provide emotional support to students and families, its statement said.
The division also extended gratitude to the Elbert Chartrand Friendship Centre in Swan River "for offering a warm space with coffee and lunch for families needing a place to gather."
Frank Gott, a teacher at Chief Charles Audy Memorial School in Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, said the bus from Sapotaweyak veered off the road while trying to pass a bus from his school.
Gott said he and the school's vice-principal drove to the scene of the crash after getting a call saying the bus carrying their students was involved in an accident.
When they arrived, they found a "surreal" and "scary" scene, with shattered windows and the lights on the Sapotaweyak bus still flashing, he said.
He said he felt a sense of relief knowing the Chief Charles Audy students weren't physically harmed, but that was tempered by worries for the students from Sapotaweyak — Gott's home community, where he previously served as a teacher.
"It was still scary knowing that it was a bus from my community," Gott said.
"It's scary to know that they went through that."
Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg had earlier Tuesday called a code orange alert — issued during potential large-scale incidents, including multi-vehicle crashes and mass casualties — as a precaution to prepare for a potential influx of patients, but that alert was later called down, Shared Health said.
"While we are thankful this incident did not result in any loss of life, we recognize the emotional toll such an event can have on those who experienced it," the Shared Health statement said.
Swan Valley Health Centre remained in code orange through the afternoon Tuesday while it continued to care for patients taken there, the health agency's statement said.
Premier contacts chief after 'scary' crash
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew called the rollover a "very scary situation" and said he spoke with Chief Genaille to offer support.
At an unrelated news conference, he was asked about whether seatbelts should be required on school buses in future.
"I am open to the conversation, but we have to be patient about identifying what took place in this instant before we rush to propose the right solution," Kinew said.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives introduced a private member's bill in December calling for mandatory seatbelt use on new Manitoba school buses.
The Canada Safety Council said in December there has been one school bus crash fatality over the past decade and fewer than 2,000 injuries nationwide to children on school buses during the same period.
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This article, written by Bryce Hoye, was originally published for CBC News.