Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

No cause on bus crash that killed three on glacier

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Jul, 2020 05:33 PM
  • No cause on bus crash that killed three on glacier

The president of the company that runs the bus tours at the Columbia Icefield between Banff and Jasper said changes will be made, if necessary, after a rollover on the glacier killed three people and sent two dozen to hospital.

The cause of the accident hasn't been determined. The off-road bus rolled off the road to the glacier Saturday afternoon and came to rest on a rocky slope, its six huge tires pointed up at the sky.

The RCMP, Occupational Health and Safety and the Transportation Safety Board spent Sunday milling about the vehicle, which slid about 50 metres down a steep embankment coming to rest near the glacier.

It's unclear how soon it will be removed from its current location but an internal investigation is underway as well.

"We started right away to review what happened, what is our process with our protocol at every step and so we're doing that internally but we are also working with the external teams to ensure that gets a fulsome review," said Dave McKenna, the president of the Banff Jasper Collection by Pursuit, which operates the tours and its fleet of 22 vehicles.

The RCMP said the cause of the accident still isn't known and the snow coach, called an Ice Explorer, will receive a full mechanical inspection.

The red and white big-wheeled buses regularly take tourists up a rough rocky road onto the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park.

In all, 27 people were aboard when it crashed.

Alberta Heath Services said, of the 24 survivors, 14 had life-threatening head or pelvis injuries. Five others were in serious condition with broken bones and the remaining five suffered minor injuries.

McKenna said the Ice Explorers are offroad vehicles and seatbelts are not required. They aren't allowed on highways and have a top speed of 40 kilometres an hour.

He said once the investigation is complete, Pursuit will implement any changes that might be part of recommendations for things like seatbelts.

"We will wait until the investigation is over and we will listen to all the recommendations and anything we're required to do."

Tours have been offered on the glacier since 1969 and the current type of Ice Explorers have been used since the early 1980s but are constantly upgraded.

"We average about 480,000 visitors a year and we've been operating these vehicles since the early 80s. We've had over 16 million passengers safely taken out on to the ice over all these years. No major incidents," McKenna said.

"Over 39 years of course there's a few bumps but nothing serious with fatalities or critical injuries."

Angela Bye was on one of the coaches just before Saturday's accident. She said she never worried about her safety.

"We were in the exact same vehicle, hours before. It's like being in a school bus with really tall seats. The seats are way more padded than a school bus. They explained how it ran. How the wheels work," she said.

"I felt very safe."

MORE National ARTICLES

No-stopping zone in place on B.C. section of Trans-Canada to protect bears

No-stopping zone in place on B.C. section of Trans-Canada to protect bears
Parks Canada has put in a 10-kilometre, no-stopping zone to protect several bears — including a rare white grizzly — that are feeding along the Trans-Canada Highway.

No-stopping zone in place on B.C. section of Trans-Canada to protect bears

Check Out "Volvo XC90" - One of the SAFEST Cars Money Can BUY

Check Out
Darpan visits JIM PATTISON VOLVO Showroom in Surrey to check out the latest offerings from VOLVO! VOLVO Surrey has some GREAT DEALS going on so believe it or not you can still invest in a great luxury vehicle that is affordable and is one of the safest vehicles on the market.

Check Out "Volvo XC90" - One of the SAFEST Cars Money Can BUY

A big fire destroys an apartment building in South Vancouver

A big fire destroys an apartment building in South Vancouver
A massive blaze engulfed an apartment buidling in South Vancouver Thursday evening. Firefighters were at intersection of West 62nd Avenue and Columbia Street. The fire gutted the four-storey apartment building under construction and turned it into ash.

A big fire destroys an apartment building in South Vancouver

High Risk Sex Offender to reside in Vancouver

High Risk Sex Offender to reside in Vancouver
Vancouver Police are warning the public that Frank William Skani will be residing in Vancouver and poses a significant risk to women in the community. The Correctional Service of Canada has assessed Skani as high risk for sexual recidivism.

High Risk Sex Offender to reside in Vancouver

Bad chocks, brake training blamed for crash to prime minister's plane

Bad chocks, brake training blamed for crash to prime minister's plane
Military investigators have revealed the sequence of events that led the Royal Canadian Air Force plane normally used by the prime minister to run into a tow tractor and hangar wall and suffer severe damage.

Bad chocks, brake training blamed for crash to prime minister's plane

Senate ethics committee urges censure of Tory senator over trip to China

Senate ethics committee urges censure of Tory senator over trip to China
The Senate's ethics committee is recommending that a Conservative senator be censured for breaching the upper house’s ethics code when he accepted an all-expenses paid trip to China in 2017.

Senate ethics committee urges censure of Tory senator over trip to China