Twenty people were injured when a shuttle bus chartered by a contractor for a data centre company veered off a highway in northern B.C., prompting two area hospitals to declare Code Orange protocols to manage the influx of patients.
The scene near Mackenzie, B.C., was “chaotic” as air and ground ambulances rushed people to hospital with injuries ranging from minor to serious, BC Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Officers responded to the remote location shortly after 9 a.m. local time on Nov. 4, following reports of a single-vehicle crash on Highway 39.
The bus was discovered at the bottom of an embankment roughly four kilometres south of Mackenzie, more than 160 kilometres north of Prince George, police said.
The highway was shut down, and Northern Health Authority said both Mackenzie and District Hospital and Prince George’s University Hospital of Northern BC declared Code Orange. The alert typically indicates a mass casualty incident or an external disaster that results in a sudden influx of multiple injured or deceased patients, overwhelming normal operations.
“This was a chaotic scene, and police will need time to sort out many of the details,” Sgt. Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol said in the statement. “We need to speak with anyone who has dash camera video of the bus, or any witnesses who saw what was happening prior to the crash.”
Northern Health reported that Code Orange was lifted at Mackenzie Hospital roughly six hours later, at 3:30 p.m. It ended at the university hospital an hour afterward.
One patient in serious condition was airlifted from the scene and six others were taken by ground ambulance to a hospital before being transferred by air to another facility, BC Emergency Health Services said. Two were in serious condition and four were in serious but stable condition.
An additional 13 patients in stable condition were taken to hospital by bus accompanied by advanced-care paramedics.
IREN, a multinational data centre company operating a 4.5-hectare site in Mackenzie, confirmed through a spokesperson that one of its contractors had chartered the bus.
“We are in close contact with the contractor, emergency responders and the RCMP as they work to establish what happened,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
IREN, which runs three data centres in B.C., said its first concern is the passengers on the bus and their families. It added that the company is assisting with the response.
Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Kiel Giddens described the crash as a “scary situation” and said he was thinking of the small community of 3,300 people.
“I’ve just learned of the serious bus crash on Highway 39 south of Mackenzie, with multiple injuries reported,” he said in a social media post. “My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected and their loved ones. Thank you to the RCMP, paramedics, firefighters and all first responders on scene.”
Police said the cause of the crash is still uncertain and “nothing has been ruled out.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
