Speed not a factor in tour bus crash, RCMP say

Richmond BC-based tour operator is Super Vacation Canada

 

 BY VANCOUVER SUN AND CANADIAN PRESS, VANCOUVER SUN AUGUST 30, 2014

Excessive speed is not believed to have played a role in Thursday’s bus crash on the Coquihalla Highway near Merritt, RCMP said Friday, after reviewing video captured by a dashboard camera.

A tractor-trailer travelling behind the bus recorded the rollover, which ejected multiple passengers and injured all 56 people on board.

RCMP Sgt. Brian Nightingale says that leaves mechanical problems or human error as possible causes.

Tire marks show the bus drifted into the grassy centre median of the highway, Nightingale said, and the bus apparently veered out of control as the driver tried to correct its course.

“It’s more an issue that the driver drove into the centre median and then veered too hard trying to get onto the road,” he said. “We’re doing mechanical (inspections) on the bus, so that will rule out any kind of mechanical factors, like steering and braking and that kind of stuff.”

The passengers were on a tour organized by Super Vacation, a company based in Richmond, that describes itself as the largest Chinese tour operator in North America. The company has said the bus was returning to Vancouver from a four-day trip to the Rocky Mountains.

Company director Laurels Lau said many of the passengers are from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, though he said some are from B.C. and elsewhere in Canada.

Lau said his company has shuttled a few uninjured people back to Vancouver and as soon as hospitals release other victims the company will transfer “them to wherever they want to go, the airport or wherever.”

Lau rejected criticism from some in the industry that the tight schedule of the trip may have put undue pressure on the driver. All drivers on Super Vacation trips must abide by government limits of 12 hours per day of driving followed by a minimum eight hours of sleep, Lau said.

He said the bus was operated by Western Bus Lines, which he said is a “major local bus company with 35 years of experience.”

Western Bus Lines, based in Kelowna, did not reply to repeated voice messages and emails.

“We are waiting for the police report,” said Lau, who declined to comment on the cause of Thursday’s crash.

Abraham Lin, director of consular services for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver, said his office had confirmed that two of the patients are Taiwanese nationals, a 20-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman.

“They are just studying for the summer and they joined the bus tour for the Rocky Mountains,” Lin said.

Lin said his office had been in touch with one of the Taiwanese passengers and had contacted the other’s parents in Taiwan.

The Chinese consulate in Vancouver said it had confirmed some of the injured passengers are from China.

“We will provide assistance as much as possible,” Yue Li, media affairs officer for the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, said at a news conference. “We also offer our condolences to all the passengers, no matter their nationality.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. consulate in Vancouver said the consulate had contacted the Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops and was told there were no American citizens at the facility. American officials hadn’t yet been able to reach other hospitals.

SUCCESS CEO Queenie Choo offered her organization’s support to anyone involved in the accident.

“While medical aides were provided to the victims, SUCCESS is pleased to lend help to the victims and their families as needed,” she said in a statement. “Affected individuals and/or families are welcomed to call SUCCESS help lines at 604-270-8233 (Cantonese/English) or 604-270-8222 (Mandarin) from 10 a.m.-10 p.m.”

With a file from Mike Hager, Vancouver Sun