RCMP says 20 people were hurt when a chartered shuttle bus went off Highway 39 near Mackenzie, B.C., prompting a mass-casualty response on Wednesday.
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RCMP said 20 people were hurt when a shuttle bus chartered by a contractor for a data centre company went off Highway 39 near Mackenzie, B.C.
Police were called to the remote site on Wednesday around 9:10 a.m. about a single-vehicle crash, according to BC Highway Patrol. The bus was found down an embankment about four kilometres south of Mackenzie, roughly 900 kilometres north of Vancouver.
RCMP said the situation was a "chaotic scene," with injuries ranging from minor to serious. Highway crews required a complete shutdown of the road.
Northern Health said both the Mackenzie and District Hospital and the University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George declared a Code Orange, which is typically used to designate a mass casualty event. Northern Health later lifted the Code Orange at the Mackenzie hospital at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and took it down at the university hospital an hour later.
BC Emergency Health Services said one patient was transported from the scene by air ambulance in serious condition. Six others were transported by ground ambulance to a hospital and then transferred by air ambulance to another facility, including two in serious condition and four in serious but stable condition.
Another 13 patients in stable condition were transported by bus to hospital accompanied by advanced-care paramedics.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the multinational data centre company IREN confirmed the bus was chartered by one of its contractors. The spokesperson said the company was in close contact with the contractor, emergency responders and RCMP as they worked to establish what happened, and that its immediate concern was for those on the bus and their families.
RCMP said the cause of the crash is still uncertain and that "nothing has been ruled out." Sgt. Michael McLaughlin of the BC Highway Patrol said police would need time to sort out details and asked for dash camera video and any witnesses who saw what was happening prior to the crash.
Prince George-Mackenzie legislature member Kiel Giddens said he was thinking about the community of about 3,300 people and called the crash a "scary situation," adding the data centre is an important employer in Mackenzie.
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