One of the first people who arrived at the scene of Saturday night's fatal bus crash on the Okanagan Connector says a number of passersby helped injured bus passengers before emergency crews made it to the scene.
Just after 6 p.m. Saturday evening, an Ebus passenger bus crashed on the Okanagan Connector near the Loon Lake exit and flipped onto its side. Four people were killed in the crash and dozens were injured.
Ian MacLeod was driving back to Kelowna from the Lower Mainland that evening. While he says the Coquihalla was extremely icy, the Connector had fresh compact snow at the time and was less slippery.
MacLeod had made a brief stop at the Loon Lake rest stop before carrying on eastbound just after 6 p.m.
“Up ahead, I could see some some lights, which were the bus lights ... shining quite brightly down our lane. And I thought that was a little odd,” MacLeod said. “And as I got closer, I recognized that there was a bus that had flipped on its side.”
MacLeod and another vehicle were the first to arrive at the scene, and he believes the crash had just occurred.
“People were starting to get out of the front window of the bus ... within a few minutes, a dozen or so passengers were milling around,” he said. “A lot of them were in shock, they just didn't know what had happened. A number of them didn't realize the gravity of what had happened.
“There was people definitely bleeding and hurt bones and legs and whatnot.”
He saw two people inside the bus he believes were deceased.
Some of the people who had crawled out of the bus were just wearing t-shirts, so MacLeod got them blankets from his vehicle and tried to comfort them. He also let several people borrow his phone to contact loved ones.
MacLeod says some people removed the hatch in the roof of the bus to get easier access to those who were still stuck inside. Within 10 or 15 minutes, several other vehicles had stopped at the crash scene and a nurse who had stopped began trying to help the injured.
“She was a professional and I don't know who she was, but she just took action and helped out,” he said.
“There was a number of people either crying or saying they needed help and all that kind of stuff. One guy came out and said we have somebody that's bleeding quite badly in the back of the bus. We need help.”
Macleod says the first police vehicle arrived at the scene from the east about 23 minutes after he first showed up. A police officer from the Merritt direction arrived shortly after.
After helping for about 30 minutes, MacLeod decided to leave the scene once police arrived. After driving eastbound for 10 minutes, he said about 20 emergency vehicles passed by him heading towards the crash.
West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund told Castanet the Merritt Fire Department arrived at the scene before his crews did. Additionally, the BC Emergency Health Services says 16 ambulances responded to the crash from Kelowna, Merritt, Kamloops and the surrounding area, along with two critical care teams and two supervisors.
The RCMP and the Ministry of Transportation's Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement team are investigating the crash. Minister of Transport Rob Fleming said Tuesday the results of the CVSE investigation, which will include looking at the condition of the bus, its brakes, tires and light systems, will be released publicly when it has been completed.
