A Calgary Transit operator was trapped and a police officer was injured when two city busses collided with six other vehicles
A Calgary Transit operator was trapped and a police officer was injured Thursday in a fiery crash that killed three people.
The chain-reaction collision happened just after 1 p.m. on Oct. 15 on the 800 block of Saddletowne Circle N.E., in the city's northeast community of Saddle Ridge, CBC News reported. It involved two city buses and six other vehicles, according to The Canadian Press (CP). One bus, powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), caught fire, and all three people killed were aboard it, police said, according to Global News.
Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Adam Loria said 19 people were injured, 10 of whom were taken to hospital by ambulance, CP reported. In a statement on X, the Calgary Police Service said "one person has sustained life-altering injuries and one has sustained serious injuries."
Workers among the injured
One bus driver escaped quickly, but the other was trapped and had to be extricated, said Mike Mahar, president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 583, which represents Calgary Transit operators. Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth said the trapped driver suffered fairly serious injuries, the Calgary Herald reported. His condition has not been released.
A Calgary Police Service officer suffered minor injuries, CBC News reported. Staff Sgt. Andy Woodward said she was hurt after running toward a bus as the fire erupted, according to CP.
"We're very concerned for our operators and the families affected by this," Mahar told the Herald. Calgary Transit director Sharon Fleming said the agency's priority was the care of passengers and operators involved, the paper reported.
CNG bus was parked at a stop
Woodward said a bus hit a white vehicle, setting off a chain of collisions, then struck a second bus waiting at a stop and pushed it across the road, Global News reported.
The bus that caught fire ran on CNG, CBC News reported, and a hazardous materials unit joined the 12 fire units that responded. "It was fairly involved," Dongworth said. "It wasn't a catastrophic fire, but it was a serious fire inside ... there was also a small fire in the other bus." The fuel used by the bus that struck it has not been confirmed.
Calgary Transit operates more than 240 CNG buses, according to its website, and the city said the fleet will remain in service, CTV News reported. Mahar told the Herald the union had never had concerns about natural gas bus safety, but that could change. In a separate case, a propane bus explosion that burned five Red Deer depot workers led to 10 charges under Alberta's OHS Act.
Investigations under way
Police are investigating the cause, CBC News reported. Fleming said Calgary Transit will also investigate to "understand what safety measures we may need to implement in the future," LiveWire Calgary reported.
Alberta requires employers to promptly report to OHS any incident that may send a worker to hospital, and uncontrolled fires that could cause serious injury. It was not clear Friday whether Alberta OHS had been notified or would investigate.
Provincial OHS charges can follow a serious workplace injury or death, as with an Alberta employer fined nearly half a million for a worker's fatal injuries. Bus crashes in the province have seriously injured workers before, including the rollover of a charter bus carrying oil-and-gas workers.
