A tour bus sat on the side of the road, windows smashed and debris strewn across the highway.
Blood smudged down the side of the vehicle as dozens of ambulances crowded around the scene after it rolled over Thursday afternoon on the Coquihalla Highway, 20 kilometres southwest of Merritt.
Police confirmed all 56 people on the bus were injured when it crashed – seven of them critically.
Five air ambulances flew the most critically injured to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops.
In addition to the airlifted passengers, an additional 15 suffered severe injuries such as broken bones and compound fractures.
The remaining 35 passengers have more minor injuries.
Royal Inland and Kelowna General Hospital were in a state of high alert Thursday night in preparation for the influx of injured passengers.
“Today interior health called a code orange a two of our facilities,” said Interior Health Authority Spokesperson Michaela Swan. “At Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, staff there have prepared to receive 40 patients and at Kelowna General, they’ve prepared to receive 20 patients as a result of the bus accident on the Coquihalla.”
Passengers on the bus are described as “Asian”and were accompanied by two interpreters who werealso onboard.
The immediate cause of the crash is not known but it was the only vehicle involved and one witness told CTV Vancouver the bus was speeding on a dangerous downhill section of the highway.
“We were doing 130. That’s when the bus passed us. My boyfriend is in the Canadian Forces and he said that bus is driving too fast with that many passengers, especially downhill where all trucks are going really slow,” said Kat Woycechowsky who was driving on the Coquihalla at the same time as the bus.
Drive BC confirmed Highway 5 is closed in both directions between Hope and Merritt as a result of the incident and is expected to continue well into Thursday night. Detours are available via Highways 1 and 8.
