A dashboard camera aboard a tractor-trailer captured a tour bus rolling over on a mountain highway in British Columbia, injuring dozens of tourists, many from East Asia, as they were returning from a trip to the Rocky Mountains.
The bus carrying 56 people crashed Thursday afternoon on the Coquihalla Highway south of Merritt, B.C., sending 43 people to hospital. Health officials said five patients were in critical condition and 10 were listed as serious.
RCMP Sgt. Brian Nightingale said the dash-cam footage, captured by a truck travelling behind the bus, indicates speed was likely not a factor, leaving human error or mechanical failure as possible causes.
"It's more an issue that the driver drove into the centre median and then veered too hard trying to get onto the road," Nightingale said.
"We're doing mechanical (inspections) today on the bus, so that will rule out any kind of mechanical factors, like steering and braking and that kind of stuff."
The dash-cam footage has not been released by police.
Interior Health said passengers needing treatment were transported to hospitals in Kamloops and Kelowna. In addition to the patients with critical and serious injuries, the health authority said 28 people had less serious non-life threatening injuries.
Hospital officials in B.C. are expected to issue an update the condition of the patients sometime on Friday.
Many bus passengers from overseas
The passengers were on a tour organized by Super Vacation, a company based in Richmond, B.C., which leased the bus from Western Bus Lines.
The company, which that describes itself as the largest Chinese tour operator in North America, has said the bus was returning to Vancouver from on a trip to the Rocky Mountains and was between Kamloops and Vancouver when it rolled over around 2:30 p.m. PT about 30 kilometres south of Merritt.
Company spokesman L. Lau said many of the passengers are from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, though he said some are from B.C. and elsewhere in Canada.
Lau said his company has been in touch with some of the patients and has been figuring out ways to provide assistance.
"We have been planning for everything right now," said Lau, who declined to give his full name. "Of course, some of the patients we can't see."
Lau said the bus was operated by Western Bus Lines, which he said is a "major local bus company with 35 years of experience."
"We are waiting for the police report," Lau said.
Western Bus Lines, based in Kelowna, did not reply to repeated voice messages and emails.
Consulate confirms 2 from Hong Kong
Abraham Lin, director of consular services for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver, said his office had confirmed that two of the patients are Taiwanese nationals, a 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman.
"They are just studying for the summer and they joined the bus tour for the Rocky Mountains," Lin said.
Lin said his office had been in touch with one of the Taiwanese passengers and had contacted the other's parents in Taiwan.
Neither the Chinese embassy in Ottawa nor the consulate in Vancouver could be immediately reached.
Photos from the scene on Thursday showed the white bus upright, with visible damage to its side and the Western Bus Lines logo mostly scraped off. Passengers and emergency workers could be seen standing alongside the bus, with debris strewn about the road.
YouTube: Bus crash on the Coquihalla
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