N.S. youth choir thankful for community support after bus crash sends several to hospital

More than two dozen children were in a bus crash in Annapolis Valley, N.S.

A youth choir says it is thankful for the support it received following a bus crash in Nova Scotia’s Kings County Monday afternoon.

Emergency crews responded to the scene in the 4500 block of Brooklyn Street in Somerset around 2 p.m.

Police say 28 people — 25 youths and 3 adults — were involved in the single-vehicle crash, which involved members of the Canta Mara Youth Choirs of the Annapolis Valley.

The choir says 11 of its members were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Emergency services responded quickly to the scene, and several choristers were transported to local hospitals as a precaution. Several choristers sustained minor injuries and most were released from hospital within the span of a few hours, into the care of their families,” it said in a post on social media.

“LifeFlight air ambulance was brought in to assist and took one chorister with more serious injuries to a hospital in Halifax. The chorister is expected to make a full recovery.”

Tracy Havill, the choir’s president of the board of directors, says that chorister was treated at the IWK Heath Centre in Halifax and sent home Monday night.

The crash happened while members of the intermediate choir were on an annual trip to perform for other school-aged children.

“They were singing at their last school, Somerset Elementary School, and they were heading back to Port Williams to be picked up by their parents and the bus that they were on, one of the back wheels hit a culvert, and on that road, it was a back road, there were several culverts in a row, and the bus just kept hitting them and swerved, threw the kids around a little bit inside of the bus and then came to a stop,” Havill says.

“No other vehicles were involved in the accident.”

Police say the cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Havill says it was not an ideal phone call for a parent to get.

“But the parents were appreciative, appreciated the quick and clear communication, and Heather Fraser, our artistic director actually spent time after everyone was gone calling again to the parents just to check in, just to make sure the kids were all doing well and at that point most of them had already gotten home,” she says.

Havill also admits things could have been a lot worse.

“Some of the kids on the bus said they thought the bus was going to tip right over and thankfully that didn’t happen, and so we are so happy to report our kids are home with their families, shaken up for sure, but healing at home, which is great news.”

She adds she is grateful for the first responders on the scene, as well as staff at Somerset Elementary School.

“They immediately set up a station for the kids that were given the green light to go home. They set up a water and snack station for them at the school and brought out some of their staff to help support us,” she says.

“They also called in the crisis counsellor from the school board to be on site to give us resources and they helped up communicate with the local schools because our choir is across the Valley.”

The next intermediate choir rehearsal will include counsellors with the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education.

“I think our choir is very much a community choir, and no surprise to us that the community around us really stepped up from the elementary school, we had local residents that came out with first-aid training… people brought out water and blankets. It was nice to feel that support and we’re just so thankful that our choristers are OK,” says Havill.

The Canta Mara Youth Choirs of the Annapolis Valley is hosting its end-of-year concert at Horton High School in Wolfville, N.S., on May 23.

“A Patch of Light: Music for Times Like These” will feature performances at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“People can check out our Facebook page if they’re interested in attending and just really see the resilience and just the spirit of the choir and the support that they have for each other,” Havill says.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Callum Smith

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