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A woman is dead and 22 other people were taken to hospital with injuries of varying degrees, after a charter bus rolled over on a highway in northwestern Alberta Saturday night, RCMP said.
RCMP are still investigating the crash on Highway 43, but road conditions are believed to have been a factor in the single-vehicle collision, according to a series of news releases the agency has sent since late Saturday night.
Most of the people sent to hospital have since been released, but the status is unknown on six passengers who were in serious condition, police said.
Shortly before 11:45 p.m. MT Saturday, RCMP advised that Highway 43 would be closed for “some time” to let reconstructionists comb the scene of a serious collision, just west of Debolt, Alta., a hamlet roughly 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
Investigators found the bus, which was carrying 37 passengers, adults and children alike, had hit the highway’s median and rolled over once, landing on its wheels, police said.
First responders declared a 50-year-old woman, a resident of Grande Prairie, Alta., dead at the scene, police said.
Paramedics rushed six other passengers, who were in serious condition, to hospital, police said. Their conditions were unknown as of Sunday afternoon.
A separate bus was called in to carry 16 more passengers to hospital, police said. They were triaged with minor injuries and have since been released from hospital.
The highway reopened to all traffic Sunday morning, police said.