Photo from Skilled Truckers Facebook Group
GRANDE PRAIRIE — One person has died and several others were injured after a charter bus rolled over on Highway 43 west of Grande Prairie late Saturday night.
RCMP say officers were called around 10:27 p.m. to a single-vehicle collision involving a Diversified Transportation charter bus approximately one kilometre west of Debolt. Fire crews and multiple EMS units responded to the scene.
Police say there were 37 passengers on board, including adults and children. A 50-year-old woman from Grande Prairie was pronounced dead at the scene. Her name has not been released.
Sixteen passengers with minor injuries were taken to hospital and later released. Six others were transported to hospital by ambulance after being assessed as seriously injured. Their current conditions have not been made public. Passengers who were not injured were taken to the Debolt fire hall to keep warm.
According to a social media post from the Grande Prairie Seventh-day Adventist Church, the bus was returning from an event in St. Albert with the church’s Pathfinder youth group at the time of the crash.
Pastor Dan Wilson says the bus lost control in severe icy conditions and rolled reportedly ejecting several passengers. He says one person was pronounced dead at the scene, while others suffered serious and minor injuries.
Pastor Wilson added that in the darkness and cold, survivors helped one another until emergency responders arrived, noting that one child used a phone to call 911. He praised the group’s courage and says the church is now rallying to support grieving families, those injured, and others affected by the crash.
An RCMP collision reconstructionist attended the scene. Investigators believe road conditions may have been a factor, and police say the bus struck the median and rolled once before coming to rest upright. The investigation remains ongoing.
Photo from Skilled Truckers Facebook Group
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