Collision between bus and truck sends 10 to hospital
All but one of the 10 pipeline workers injured when a bus collided with a semi-truck on the outskirts of Kerrobert on Friday were released from hospital the next day.
Paul Stuckless, corporate safety manager for O.J. Pipelines, said the workers were travelling to Kindersley from a work site when their bus was struck by a grain truck at the rural intersection, about 180 kilometres from Saskatoon.
He said 16 workers in the pipe welding crew — including the driver — were on board at the time.
Stuckless said the truck struck the side of the bus, sending it spinning into a ditch.
“It was a pretty busy night but we’re looking after everybody,” Stuckless said on Saturday, noting that he did not know the extent of the injuries of the person who remained
in hospital.
According to RCMP, police were called at 4:26 p.m. Friday after an eastbound semi hauling two trailers of canola on Highway 51/21 collided with a converted school bus travelling southeast on Highway 31.
The bus “came to rest on its side in the north ditch” and the semi stopped near the centre of Highway 31, an RCMP news release said.
Three people were taken to a hospital in Saskatoon, and seven others were taken to local hospitals.
Police did not release the nature or extent of the injuries, but noted that the driver of the grain truck was not hurt, nor was the driver of the bus.
Roads in the area were closed until about 5 a.m. Saturday while police investigated the scene.
“At this point in the investigation, alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the collision, but the sequence of events that led up to and caused the collision are still under investigation,” an RCMP news release said.
Cpl. Rob King, speaking to reporters Saturday in Regina, said the RCMP investigation would look into who was potentially at fault in the collision.
“The accident reconstructionist wrapped up this morning, but it will take awhile for him to accumulate all the data and to get it all done to where he can determine who exactly was supposed to be where,” King said.
Chris Bunz said he was driving by and saw the semi-truck in the middle of the intersection and a white bus lying on its side in the shoulder, dented but with windows intact.
“(The semi) looked like it had probably just a little front end damage, and the bus had a little bit of rippling in the side, so I don’t think it was too, too big a collision, but enough to put the bus over,” he said in a phone interview.
Bunz, a resident of nearby Unity, said the presence of industrial activity, heavy traffic and speeding drivers make the intersection where the crash occurred a particularly dangerous one.
“There’s a lot of equipment
The accident reconstructionist wrapped up this morning, but it will take awhile for him to accumulate all the data.
parked at the corner they have a stockpile of dirt and a bunch of equipment too, so it’s kind of distracting, because you have that right in that corner and lots of traffic too,” he said.
Stuckless, meanwhile, said the bus, which his company leased for its crews, was equipped with seatbelts.
He said four of O.J. Pipelines’ own emergency staff went to the scene and assisted local first responders.
Humboldt Broncos head coach Nathan Oystrick was in Saskatoon on Saturday with team members for a blood donor awareness event.
He said he was “in shock” when he first heard the news of another bus crash.
“It’s not good, obviously,” Oystrick said.
“It kind of brought back a few emotions, but we’re here trying to help as much as we can ... It’s just shock, I guess.”
The crash happened just days after the Humboldt Broncos played their first game since the April collision involving the hockey team’s bus and a transport truck at a rural Saskatchewan highway intersection. Sixteen people, including 10 players, were killed and 13 players were injured in that crash.
The driver of that truck, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, is charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily injury.
Sidhu, who was not hurt in the crash, was released on $1,000 bail in July under conditions he not drive and that he surrender his passport.