The province of Manitoba is doing an internal review of safety around the intersection where a deadly bus crash killed 15 people June 15.
“What I will say is that after any accident or incident on our highways, there is an internal review that takes place. So that review is taking place right now,” Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson told a news conference June 19. “We’re prepared to go beyond that [internal review] and bring in outside experts as needed.”
Stefanson also announced help for the families of those affected by the crash.
“I have instructed Manitoba Health to immediately make resources available for family members affected to be reimbursed for any travel, hotel, or food costs as needed. Our message to you is that we are here to help you during this difficult time.”
She said the crash has been devastating to the entire province.
“Manitoba is a province where everyone knows everyone, these are our friends, these are our neighbors, these are our loved ones. These are members of our community. This tragedy is felt not just by Dauphin, but by people right across our province.”
At the same time, she said many have responded with a tremendous outpouring of support, pointing to a community event in Carberry she attended over the weekend.
“It was absolutely heartwarming to see the wonderful people band together … they came from communities right across our province,” she said. “I think it’s indicative of who we are as Manitobans. When times get tough, we band together and we help and we support one another.”
Lanette Siragusa, CEO of Shared Health, the agency that coordinates health services in Manitoba, said 10 people remain in hospital after the crash, six women and four men, ranging from their 60s to their 80s in age. Five are still in critical care.
“This is the worst tragedy in the history of our entire province, and most especially for the close-knit communities of Carberry and Dauphin,” she said.
Siragusa added it is difficult to say how long the 10 will need to remain in hospital.
“Because of their age, there may be complicating factors as well for some of them,” she said. “The team is assessing every day and we will watch how they’re doing.”
Meanwhile, RCMP Supt. Rob Lasson cautioned the investigation will take time, potentially months.
He said RCMP have not yet been able to speak to the man driving the mini-bus, because he remains in hospital.
“We will be speaking to him when the time is right,” he said. In addition, he said, police have started talking to survivors of the crash who were on the bus.
“We were able to interview some of the injured, who were able to speak with us over the weekend. This is a very important part of the investigation, hearing from the people that were actually there. These were tough interviews to conduct,” he added.
He said the lack of witnesses is also making the investigation more difficult.
“Normally, we have numerous … eyewitnesses,” he said. “In this case, we don’t. All the witnesses were in the bus and a lot of them are in trauma right now … so we have to rely on forensic investigations, mechanical analysis of the vehicle, and things like that. And that’s why it’s taking so long. Normally, we would have more answers because we would have very focused witness accounts very soon after what happened.”
He also said the most complex part of the investigation is making sure the answers they come up with are accurate.
“We have to determine accurate answers. And when I talk about accurate answers, we mean was someone at fault here? Our job as investigators is to rule that out, or to rule that in.”
While investigators got dash cam footage from the truck last week, Lasson said he still doesn’t know if there was a data recorder on the truck.
“That’s a big part of the investigation that will tell us a lot of information. I don’t know if they have it … but when we do we’re hopeful that’s going to tell a lot of the story.”
RCMP have seized both vehicles for analysis, but Lasson said the bus was pretty much destroyed.
“That vehicle was very engulfed and destroyed at the scene. So that’s going to be part of this overall analysis to determine exactly what was in that interior of that vehicle, how the seats were situated, etc.”
Last week, Lasson confirmed the bus was crossing the Trans-Canada Highway heading south, when it crossed into the path of the semi, which was heading east on the Trans-Canada and had the right of way.
However, he also cautioned that police are not yet at the point of assigning any blame.
The crash happened the morning of June 15, near Carberry in southwest Manitoba. The bus was carrying 25 people, mostly seniors from the Dauphin area, to a casino.
