RCMP say charges pending in tour bus crash on the Coquihalla Highway
Posted June 27, 2015 12:22 pm.
Last Updated June 27, 2015 4:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MERRITT (NEWS 1130) – A serious crash involving a tour bus sent dozens to hospital and snarled traffic for hours in BC’s Southern Interior.
When crews arrived they found 37 people in need of medical attention after the three-vehicle crash on the Coquihalla Highway near Brookmere, about 40 kilometres south of Merritt.
“They went to hospital in five different communities, Merritt Kamloops, Kelowna, Hope and Chilliwack. As we found the patients, two were in critical condition. We transported another four that were serious and then 31 patients with minor non-life-threatening injuries,” says Mike Michalko with BC Emergency Health Services.
RCMP say an investigation is in its early stages but charges are pending.
Staff Sergeant Mike Pears says the car’s driver had crashed into a deer and called for a tow truck. Shortly after the truck arrived, the bus crashed into it.
Pears says the tour guide and tow truck operator sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries, while the driver of the car and a passenger were also injured. He says there were 30 people on the bus and many sustained minor injuries.
An employee at Universal Coach Line in Richmond confirmed one of its tour buses was involved in the crash, but declined to give further information.
