Bus with Corner Brook Silver Blades skaters flips near Grand Falls-Windsor
Two passengers airlifted to St. John's for further treatment
Dozens of young skaters from Corner Brook were aboard a bus that crashed near the town of Grand Falls-Windsor in central Newfoundland late Thursday night.
The RCMP shut down the westbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway near Beothuck Park, a few kilometres outside the town, just before 10:30 p.m. local time Thursday. Roads were wet and slippery because of heavy rain around the time the bus carrying more than 50 people crashed.
There were 55 passengers on the bus, and according to Central Health, three were being held in an emergency room and two have been airlifted to St. John's for further treatment.
Bev Power, chair of Skate Canada Newfoundland and Labrador, confirmed Friday morning that the skaters are members of the Silver Blades Skating Club in Corner Brook.
She said they were travelling to the provincial synchronized championships in Clarenville, scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
The skaters are eight to 18 years old, and Power said there were also several adults on the bus, including parents, coaches and the team manager.
She said the accident was an unexpected turn to what was expected to be a fun-filled weekend
"They left home all happy and excited for the weekend," she said.
The competition in Clarenville will proceed as scheduled, said Susan Dean, host chair of the event.
The competition features 42 teams with roughly 600 skaters from the across the province.
No strict travel policy
When asked about the decision by the club to travel across the island at night, in light of adverse weather warnings, Power said "we don't have strict policy around weather."
She said each club makes the decision whether to travel to an event. She added that the club decided to leave Thursday to avoid the heavy snow forecasted for the west coast.
"I do know they left trying to avoid today's weather," Power said.
"They made a safety-conscious decision last [Wednesday] evening — unfortunately, they did have the accident — because of the storm today."
Power added there will be a review of the incident.
"We'll certainly be discussing with the Silver Blades how they came to make the decision. Of course it's premature for that conversation with them now. Right now we just want to make sure everyone is safe and as comfortable as can be and provided any services they may need."
Unbelievable sight
Gilbert Swain, a truck driver with more than 30 years experience on the road, arrived on the scene shortly after the crash.
He had left Corner Brook earlier in the night, and remembers the bus passing him just west of Badger.
When he got closer to Grand Falls-Windsor, he noticed a commotion on the highway ahead of him.
"As I drew closer I said, 'Oh my God, that's the bus that passed me,'" he said.
"I seen children walking up over the bank next to the bus and I thought, 'This first-aid kit is not going to be much good here.'"
In an interview with CBC's Anthony Germain, Swain described the scene of young children and teenagers crawling out of the front window of the bus, which was off the road and down over an embankment.
"It was over on its side, the lights were still on," he said.
Grand Falls Windsor Fire Chief Vince MacKenzie tweeted a picture of fire crews near the emergency hatch, where they accessed many of those that were inside the bus.
Swain said it was cold and there was heavy rain when he came upon the accident.
"A lot of these kids, they were in pyjamas and they were walking up over the bank, and some of them had nothing on their feet," he said.
"People were cold, and wet. They were in vehicles trying to stay warm."
Surreal experience
Swain said in all of his years driving a truck, he had never seen anything like Thursday night's crash.
"The thing that really, really impacted me the most is that they were children," he said.
"It's somewhat difficult to talk about because it's the one thing you dread if you travel these highways enough."
He said emergency responders were taking some of the passengers away on backboards and stretchers, and the cold weather saw some people huddling together for warmth.
Swain told CBC that he will never forget trying to calm down one crying little girl who had a cut on her forehead.
"When I looked in those little eyes and all I saw was the shock, it will stay with you for a while," he said.
"Those people did an outstanding job, and my hat's off to Chief MacKenzie," said Swain.
"I can still see him now — phone up to one ear and radio up to another."
Swain hopes he will never have to experience something like Thursday night's crash again.
"I've been plying the roads of this country for a long time, and this is the worse thing I have ever come across," he said.
"It's something you hear tell of, you see it dramatized on television, but you never expect to see it in real life."
Health response
Sean Tulk, chief operating officer with Central Health, said 55 people were sent to the Central Newfoundland Regional Health Centre. He said the hospital used special emergency response procedures to bring in extra staff to deal with the high number of patients.
"We were able to activate our code orange, which is basically our signal to recall staff on an emergency basis," he said.
"We triaged about 55, and [there were] no critically injured that I'm aware of at this point."
Kim Cheeks, a communications officer with Central health, said all of the 55 casualties arrived at the hospital before 10:30 p.m.
Triage services continued until 3:30 a.m., and at that time only about 16 people were left under Central Health's care.
Three of the patients were in an emergency room at the hospital, and two were air lifted to St. John's.
Those that were airlifted were brought for treatment that was "a little bit deeper than we could provide at the time," said Cheeks.
She said all of the injuries were minor, and there were no fatalities.
All patients have since been discharged from Central Health.