One Dead, Seven Injured After Greyhound Bus Hits Moose In Canada

July 1, 2004
A Greyhound Bus loaded with more than 50 passengers struck a bull moose on a darkened highway early Wednesday morning, sending the bus careening into the ditch, killing one person and injuring several others.
WAWA, Ont. (CP) -- A Greyhound Bus loaded with more than 50 passengers struck a bull moose on a darkened highway early Wednesday morning, sending the bus careening into the ditch, killing one person and injuring several others.

Allen Turner, 74, of Thunder Bay, Ont., was killed in the crash on a treacherous stretch of Highway 17, some 30 kilometres north of the Lake Superior town of Wawa, provincial police said.

Turner was seated several rows behind the driver's seat.

The driver was ejected through the front window, sustaining multiple fractures and significant injuries.

He was being treated at Lady Dunn Health Center in Wawa along with most of other injured passengers. Four were sent to hospitals in Sault Ste. Marie and one was transferred to Sudbury with more severe injuries.

Police would not confirm how many were injured in the crash, but it is thought that there were 32 people involved.

Injuries ranged from severe fractures to lacerations, soft-tissue damage and minor scrapes and abrasions.

Initially, all 54 passengers were sent to the Wawa hospital, an unprecedented number that threw the small hospital's disaster plan into effect.

``We've put it into effect before for other things but we've never had this many patients,'' said Maria Dupuis, a hospital spokeswoman.

Extra staff in all areas were called in, including up to 14 additional nurses and support staff in dietary, clerical and environmental.

Police said the bus hit the moose, crashed into a ditch and rolled over, police said, adding the large bull moose was killed on impact.

By chance, two Ontario Provincial Police officers and two truckers arrived at the accident scene shortly after the collision and were able to assist, said Sgt. Steve Smith of the Wawa detachment.

``We just happened to have a police cruiser, two officers doing regular patrol . . . not too far behind the bus and they happened on the scene quite quickly afterward, and the same with the truck,'' Smith said.

The extra hands were able to provide medical and emotional assistance, he said.

``There were a lot of people injured, a lot of people very upset and distraught, some of them a little bit panicky.''

The bus left Ottawa on Tuesday morning and was to make some northern Ontario stops before arriving in Winnipeg, said Lorraine Card, a Greyhound spokeswoman in the Calgary head office.

Card said another bus was immediately dispatched to the scene of the crash to take passengers who were fit to travel to their final destinations.

``Obviously our concern is for the well-being of our passengers and our driver,'' Card said.

The bus company will wait for a report from police before conducting its own internal investigation on the crash, she added.

OPP in the Wawa area, from White River east to Chapleau, investigated 18 collisions involving moose in June alone. Three of 44 so far this year involved injury, all on that stretch of Highway 17.

But the 44 so far represents a decline from the three-year average of 56 moose collisions to the end of June, OPP say.

Card could not recall a similar incident in the Wawa area but said it is known to be treacherous.

``Something of this nature is very unlikely, however it is an area where a lot of wildlife travel.''

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