2 killed in bus crash northeast of Montreal
Posted March 3, 2012 1:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A charter bus trip taking a group of gamblers from Thetford Mines, Que. to a casino in the United States turned deadly on Saturday when the vehicle veered off the road and flipped into a ditch, killing two passengers.
The bus was carrying mostly elderly passengers and more than 40 people were taken to hospital following the crash.
Sgt. Claude Denis of Quebec provincial police said it appears the bus missed a turn on a slippery road and flipped onto its side, slamming into a power line.
“Our specialists are still trying to understand what happened exactly,” Denis said in an interview.
No other vehicle was involved in the crash on the quiet stretch of highway northeast of Montreal.
There were more than 50 passengers on board the bus, operated by Autocars La Chaudiere, headed to Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in New York.
Company president Pierre Breton said in an interview that it appears poor road conditions and high winds were to blame for the accident.
Breton said the bus, a Prevost H345, passed its most recent inspection last month, on Feb. 12, and was equipped with winter tires.
The driver, a 57-year-old military veteran, worked part-time for the company and had the license required to drive the bus, Breton said.
The accident happened around 8 a.m. between Plessisville and St. Ferdinand on Route 165, about 200 kilometres from Montreal.
Twenty-eight passengers were taken to a hospital in nearby Victoriaville, another 18 passengers were transported to a hospital Thetford Mines, and one passenger was taken to Quebec City for treatment.
Dr. Andre Nadeau at l’Hotel-Dieux d’Arthabaska, the hospital in Victoriaville, said they were treating passengers for a variety of injuries, including broken bones and back pain.
“We’re talking about elderly people, so shock in an accident like this is always a concern,” Nadeau said at a news conference Saturday.
“There are injuries still.. but we can say that our patients are in stable condition.”
The two passengers who died, a woman and an elderly man, haven’t been identified.
