Students and driver hospitalized following school bus rollover in Manitoba

A school bus rollover on a Western Manitoba highway sent 15 people to hospital. Jon Hendricks reports.

Multiple students from a Manitoba community have been airlifted to hospital in Winnipeg with injuries including stitches, broken bones and spinal injuries after a school bus rolled over on a Manitoba highway Tuesday morning.

Mounties with the Swan River detachment said the rollover took place on Highway 10, approximately 13 kilometres south of Mafeking at around 8:35 a.m.

According to RCMP, the driver of the bus was heading south on the highway and attempted to pass another bus and lost control. The bus went off the highway and rolled, eventually stopping right side up.

According to the Swan Valley School Division, 14 students and a driver were on board the bus and travelling from Sapotaweyak Cree First Nation to Swan Valley Regional Secondary School at the time of the crash.

Sapotaweyak Chief Nelson Genaille said the bus rolled over several times and said the weather may have been a factor in the crash.

“Yesterday it was plus nine and raining,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “Then this morning, it was minus nine and ice and wind.”

The students range in age from 16 to 18, according to Shared Health.

A spokesperson with Shared Health said code orange alerts were called at both the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) in Winnipeg and the Swan Valley Health Centre. The alert was since cancelled for HSC.

“Code orange alert is a readiness stage where a mass casualty incident has happened and teams are activated to assess what resources will be needed,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

A Tuesday afternoon update from Shared Health said 15 patients were sent to Swan Valley for assessment and treatment of minor injuries. They said four of the patients have been airlifted to HSC in stable condition for further care — three to children’s hospital and one to adult emergency.

“We sincerely thank the first responders for their swift action and compassion during this difficult time,” the division said in a statement.

Genaille said the injuries range from stitches to broken shoulder bones and spinal injuries.

“I’ve been with the family members, and there is a state of shock, because you think your child’s going to school only to find out they have been involved in an accident,” he said. “So it sort of hits your heart in a bad way, in a sour way, like, ‘Is my child safe? How badly hurt is my child?’ So it affects you.

“Even from a leadership side, it’s my members, so it does affect me very deeply.”

Genaille said he believes seatbelts on school buses should be looked into following this crash.

The division said three counsellors and the division’s knowledge keeper have been deployed to the hospital in Swan Valley to provide emotional support for students and families. It added it will continue to support students and families during recovery from the “traumatic event.”

A RCMP forensic reconstructionist is at the scene and investigating.

Mafeking is located 541 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

With files from CTV’s Danton Unger