Girl, 8, Dies of Injuries in Calgary School Bus Crash, Another Child Badly Hurt

By Bill Graveland, THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY – An eight-year-old girl died Thursday and another child suffered life-threatening injuries after their school bus side-swiped a dump truck parked on a Calgary expressway in the morning rush hour.

The two were among 11 youngsters taken to Alberta Children’s Hospital, where anxious parents streamed into the emergency department looking for news about their kids.

Dr. Vincent Grant, director of trauma care at the hospital, said all parents were quickly contacted thanks to school officials.

“Fortunately we don’t have incidents like this very often, but we do try to plan for them because we realize at the hospital that they do occur,” Grant said. “We have a trauma team that’s at the ready for us, and once we understood from the scene that they were bringing in a number of patients with traumatic injuries, we actually had that team called out and responded.”

Paul Lapointe of Calgary’s emergency services said at least one of the badly hurt youngsters was trapped in the wreckage and had to be removed by firefighters. The one critically injured child was listed in stable condition Thursday afternoon.

The other nine were treated for minor injuries and released, hospital officials said. The female bus driver escaped injury, but police said she was suffering from emotional trauma.

The impact of the collision sheared off the passenger side of the bus and apparently causing the driver to lose control and hit a light pole. Glass and debris were littered around the bus as it rested against the pole, an entire side of the vehicle peeled back and crumpled.

The bus was carrying children ranging in age from eight to 17 years old, including five from Mountain View Academy.

“We pray. We support the families. We’re there for our children,” said Colleen Ryan, vice-principal of the school.

“That’s really what everybody can do right now – pray.”

Ryan said the bus belonged to The Third Academy, a school for special-needs children, but calls there were not immediately returned.

Road and weather conditions were clear at the time of the crash, said police Insp. Roger Chaffin. The driver of the truck had pulled over due to mechanical problems and was not in the vehicle at the time.

Chaffin said police were investigating why the bus, a one-tonne cargo-van-type vehicle, hit the truck, which was parked well off the road on the shoulder of Crowchild Trail. Another question was whether the bus was equipped with seatbelts, although most school buses aren’t.

At a later news conference, Staff Sgt. Brett Marklund said the investigation into the crash will be “a long and laborious process.”

Marklund said police had ruled out alcohol as a factor, but there was a fair amount of speed and little evidence of braking. The speed limit on the Crowchild is 70 kilometres an hour.