Bus carrying 50 people crashes with SUV on Sea-to-Sky Highway

A head-on collision involving a packed charter bus and SUV sent two people to hospital near Squamish on Dec. 23, 2015. (CTV)

Two people are in hospital after a charter bus and Jeep SUV crashed on the Sea-to-Sky Highway Wednesday, but Mounties say it could have been much worse if not for a recently-installed concrete barrier.

The vehicles collided between Squamish and Whistler shortly before noon, leaving the SUV mangled and the Pacific Coach Lines bus propped up on a barrier at the side of the highway.

“When I first saw it I was pretty shocked at how the coach was precariously perched,” witness Christian Thomas told CTV News.

“As [passengers] were trying to get out the bus was teetering like a movie scene.”

No one was killed, but both drivers did sustain injuries. The bus driver was rushed to hospital via air ambulance in serious condition and the driver of the SUV was taken away in a ground ambulance.

Fortunately, Mounties said all 49 passengers on the bus were uninjured.

That might not have been the case if not for the concrete barrier, which the RCMP believes likely prevented a dangerous drop – there’s a cliff just metres away on the other side.

“They’re not super high but they actually do stop vehicles,” Sgt. Jolaine Percival said. “It absolutely could have been a lot worse.”

The cause of the crash hasn’t been determined, but investigators said road conditions are a potential factor. It was snowing when the vehicles collided.

The PCL bus left Vancouver International Airport at 8:30 a.m., and the RCMP said initial indications are that it crashed into the SUV after the smaller vehicle’s back end crossed the centre line on the highway.

The front driver’s side of the bus was badly damaged and the SUV was completely destroyed. Glass was left littered on the roadway and pieces of metal were thrown onto the snowy hill beyond the barrier,

The accident shut down the busy highway in both directions for more than three hours. It was opened up to single-lane alternating traffic in the mid-afternoon, but the area remained congested much later and police urged motorists to avoid it if possible.

Mounties said the accident is being investigated by the Integrated Collision Analyst and Reconstructionist Service and members of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement.

Wednesday’s crash marked the second time in less than a week the Sea-to-Sky was shut down over a bad crash.

The highway was closed for more than six hours near Whistler on Dec. 17 because of a fatal head-on collision.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Bhinder Sajan