Thirty injured in bus rollover on highway near Redwater

Rescueres on the scene of the rollover of a Red Arrow bus near Redwater.

REDWATER - Thirty people are injured after a Red Arrow bus rolled Friday on a highway about 10 kilometres west of Redwater.

A STARS helicopter airlifted two people to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

STARS spokesman Cam Heke said he did not have more information yet on their conditions.

The other injured passengers were being transported by ground ambulances, he said.

Three passengers were taken to Sturgeon Community Hospital in St. Albert, and one went to the Royal Alex.

“The majority have minor injuries but we are aware of some serious injuries,” Kerry Williamson, spokesman for Alberta Health Services, said shortly after the first emergency calls went out.

Red Arrow general manager John Stepovy said there were 36 people on the bus, which was headed from Fort McMurray to Edmonton.

“Our biggest concern is just the well-being of our passengers on board,” Stepovy said.

He said the company has been in touch with the families of some passengers. He could not offer any information about the bus driver.

At one point 12 ambulances were at the scene.

The bus rolled near the intersection of Highway 651 and Highway 28 in Sturgeon County.

By late Friday afternoon, RCMP had blocked off much of the area. Helicopters circled overhead, and emergency vehicles on scene included fire trucks and an Alberta Health Services bus for multiple patients.

The highway appeared to the dry and clear at the time of the rollover.

Kevin Ilsley lives on a back road off Highway 28, within sight of the rollover. He said he heard a squeal of brakes followed by a crashing sound. When he went outside, he saw the bus on its side and people milling around. He brought out blankets and jackets for people who had come off the bus.

Ilsley said it’s a particularly bad corner for accidents.

“There’s at least two or three major crashes here every year,” he said.

The bus was scheduled to arrive outside Edmonton’s Holiday Inn Express downtown at 3 p.m.

“Wow! And I just came in last night,” Chris Krucik said outside the Red Arrow office on 104th Street.

He makes the trip down to Edmonton every three weeks to see a specialist.

“I wonder what made it roll over,” he said. “The roads weren’t that bad when I came down.”

An officer with Alberta Transportation’s transportation safety services department was at the scene. The province licenses passenger buses.

Transportation spokeswoman Heather Kaszuba said if mechanical issues or driver performance are in question, the province will provide necessary assistance and any inspection history data to the RCMP.

Four years ago, a Red Arrow bus collided with a semi-trailer truck 118 kilometres south of Fort McMurray on Highway 63.

The Dec. 12, 2007, crash ripped open the front driver’s side corner of the coach and extensively damaged the semi. A dozen people were injured, the 30-year-old bus driver most seriously. He died in Edmonton hospital on Dec. 24.

The accident led to renewed calls to twin Highway 63 between Redwater and Fort McMurray, where there were 22 deaths and 23 injuries that year.

Redwater is 65 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.