Bus crash in Saskatchewan

[Lee Bradley]

Hockey bus crashes with semi in Saskatchewan.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hockey-world-mourns-humboldt-broncos-tragedy-150056018.html

[buswarrior]

This is bobofthenorth territory, perhaps a better local report?

None of the news discusses the collision details yet...

Epic tragedy.

Sadly coaching on...
Buswarrior

[bobofthenorth]

What would you like to know?  Too close to home - its hit the whole province hard and it is surprising to me how much I'm feeling affected myself.

The accident happened at a level crossing about 20 miles north of Tisdale where highway 35 between Tisdale & Nipawin crosses 335.  The intersection is wide open on 3 sides but there's an old yard SE of the intersection with tall trees all around it.  IOW its blind to the south when you approach from the east and blind to the east when you approach from the south.  The semi was hauling peat moss from the Carrot River plant - to Saskatoon I assume but that doesn't matter except to the extent that it is a route and the driver would not have likely been driving it for the first time.  The bus was on its way north to Nipawin for Game 5 of their playoff round.  The intersection was the site of a horrific accident several years ago which almost wiped out a family - 6 crosses on the SE side of the intersection stand in memory of that accident.

You can see from the image from yesterday that it was a clear day and the road looks bare.  The intersection has stop signs on 335 on both sides.  After the earlier accident they added flashing red lights on top of the stop signs.  There's the yard of a long abandoned gas station on the NW corner of the  intersection.  That's the pavement where the accident debris has largely ended up.  I've heard a reporter make excuses for the driver saying that the sun was in his eyes but that's pure BS - the sun doesn't set there until around 8:00 now and the accident happened at 5:00

The two photos I attached pretty well tell the tale.  Look up Charlie's Charters in Tisdale - that was a Prevost up until yesterday.  The truck on the other hand looks like you could put it back on its feet and drive it home.  Hard to believe but that truck driver should rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life.

[eagle19952]

What would you like to know?  

It appears as tho the truck made the marks on the road.
which are not aimed at the intersected road.
how did the rigs become parallel ?
with the truck beyond the bus ?

[Lee Bradley]

Bob I am not familiar with the intersection but from what you said the truck had the stop sign.  The truck driver didn't stop and the bus hit the trailer or the truck stopped and pulled out in front of the bus. I would guess the truck didn't stop and the bus hit the trailer and was drug into parallel with the trailer.  

[bobofthenorth]

I wouldn't assume anything from the positions of the units in the photos.  One of the first responders last night said they were using a crane so they aren't likely lying where they landed.  

What's puzzling to me is how intact the Pete is.  From the bus damage it appears to me that the truck hit somewhere behind the entrance door and sheared the front of the bus off at an angle through the driver compartment.  That's hard to believe that it could even happen but that it could happen with the Pete looking as undamaged as it does is unbelievable to me.  OTOH I don't think the bus hit the trailers because there'd be exploded peat everywhere if that had happened.  So I don't know what happened.

[richard5933]

Horrible accident and hard to even begin to visualize what happened from the photos.

Anyone know if the roof was cut off as part of the rescue or if it sheered off in the collision?

[eagle19952]

Horrible accident and hard to even begin to visualize what happened from the photos.

Anyone know if the roof was cut off as part of the rescue or if it sheered off in the collision?

[/color]

that's what i was thinking.

[DoubleEagle]

There are curved scrapes on the pavement as well as straight marks, looks like at least one vehicle was going fairly fast and they both spun around in a death spiral. If the truck hit the bus at a 90 degree angle it might have hit it squarely with the front bumper and main frame. The bus framework would not be as beefy as the truck frame. The bus framework is bent back in a long curved arc on the driver's side, so it looks like the truck hit right around the entry door and front axle. I assume the truck driver survived - this will torment him for the rest of his life.

[bobofthenorth]

The truck driver walked away.  The bus driver obviously didn't survive.

[lostagain]

I saw one news report tonight that said that the truck driver was uninjured, interrogated by the police, and released.

Nobody should speculate as to how it happened. We will know in a day or two after the police has completed their investigation.

This hits hard. I drove a Junior Hockey team bus for years in Southern BC and Northern Washington. All mountain and winter driving. Dealing with the transport trucks I think was the hardest thing, because they are under pressure to get somewhere and are pushy.

JC

[buswarrior]

High speed, high mass crash...

Best wait for the reconstructionists to do their thing.

With International attention, the media will likely tell us when the initial report is available.

Those of us who work this business have a significant knot in our stomachs.

The protecting spirits are in disruption.

Be safe.
Buswarrior

[gumpy]

Pretty sure the truck didn't hit the side of the bus head on. There's no damage on that front end. Bumper and fiberglass hood are unscathed.
I bet the truck pulled out in front of them and the bus hit the side of the semi, either near the drivers, or more likely, at the front of the second trailer.

I can't believe the amount of damage to that bus, though! There's 10 feet missing. It's in a pile up next to the truck and the only thing recognizable is one of the wheels.
Leads me to wonder if corrosion may have played a part in the destruction.

I imagine they cut the top off the bus during the rescue operation to gain better access for extrication.

[busfan]

Wow, Just horrific. No words can describe that loss.

Makes you think that each seat section should be a compartment or more thought should go into crash protection design in newer busses.

That being said I think that intersection might be a good spot for a roundabout going forward.

[lyndon]

What would you like to know?  Too close to home - its hit the whole province hard and it is surprising to me how much I'm feeling affected myself.

Humboldt is my birth town, and although I am long removed from the region, I have spent the weekend distracted and feeling affected like you, Bob. I was watching the Friday night Blue Jays game when I heard the news and remembered that you live up that way, so it's close to home for you for sure.

A lot of folks have been talking about the Swift Current Broncos bus crash of the '80s and it's great to see some of the survivors like Sheldon Kennedy offering their time and support to the victims and families. But the crash that first came to my mind was the 1990 disaster in a tight bend just East of Golden, B.C. when a truck lost a load of pipe right into a bus carrying a young dance troupe from Calgary That one bothered me like this one and -- as an active trucker at the time -- angered me as the facts came out. Accidents like that should just never happen.

I am trying to reserve any judgement pending the investigation but I guess it's human nature to want information and understand what happened. Your description of the intersection and some of what is known locally is very helpful, Bob.

For the grieving families and survivors, I wish there were words. All I have are these thoughts. And prayers. It's just so very sad. I hope they can find ways to heal. My 15-year-old boards a charter bus a week from today for a band trip to Edmonton on the scary QE2 (not the road, the scary drivers).

Now it's time to go watch the vigil from Humboldt.

[edited typo]