By Canadian Press

A list of mass casualty bus and van crashes on Canadian highways

Jun 15, 2023 | 4:59 PM

RCMP say 15 people died and 10 others were taken to hospital on Thursday after a bus collided with a semi-truck near Carberry, Man. Little information was immediately available about the deceased, but RCMP say they believe many of the people on the bus were seniors.

Here’s a list of some other serious crashes involving buses and large vehicles on Canadian roads:

Dec. 24, 2022 — four dead and dozens injured near Merritt, B.C.

A bus travelling from Kelowna, B.C, to Vancouver on Christmas Eve rolled over on Highway 97C, known as the Okanagan Connector, leaving four people dead. Eight others were hospitalized. Police have said they suspect extremely icy road conditions played a role in the collision.

April 6, 2018 — 16 dead and 13 injured near Tisdale, Sask.

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A semi-truck ran through a stop sign at a crossroads near the town, striking the coach bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team. Sixteen people on the bus were killed: 10 players, the team’s coach, an assistant coach, trainer, radio play-by-play announcer, statistician and the bus driver. The truck driver went on to plead guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm.

Feb. 6, 2012, 11 dead and five injured in Hampstead, Ont.

A van carrying 13 migrant workers from South America ran a stop sign before it was broadsided by a truck in a rural community northeast of Stratford, Ont. Eleven people died as a result of the crash. Two of the workers survived, as did all three people in the flatbed truck.

Jan. 12, 2008 — eight dead near Bathurst, N.B.

A van carrying members of the Bathurst High School basketball team crossed the centre line on an icy highway and collided with an oncoming transport truck. Seven team members and the coach’s wife were killed.

March 16, 2000 — eight dead in St-Jean-Baptiste-de-Nicolet, Que.

Eight toddlers died after the driver of a day-care minivan lost control of her vehicle and crashed into another van. The woman, whose son was among the dead, had been on her way to a pickup point where a bus would take the 10 tots to a sugar shack. A police report found some of the children were not wearing seat-belts properly, but prosecutors opted not to lay charges, saying the crash itself was not a result of negligence.

Oct. 13, 1997 — 44 dead in Les Eboulements, Que.

A bus carrying members of a seniors club missed a hair-pin turn at the foot of a steep hill and crashed into a ravine in Les Eboulements, Que., about 110 kilometres northeast of Quebec City. Forty-three seniors and the driver died.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2023.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press