5 students sent to hospital after Blind River school bus crash

Police are investigating after a school bus carrying elementary students and a transport truck collided in Blind River on Thursday morning.

Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after a school bus carrying elementary students collided with a transport truck in Blind River on Thursday morning, sending several to hospital.

It happened at the intersection of Causley Street/Highway 17 and Hanes Avenue around 8:30 a.m. June 19, OPP said in a news release.

“At the time of the incident, the school bus was transporting seventeen elementary students from Blind River Public School and St. Mary’s Catholic School,” police said.

“Five students were transported to the Blind River hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”

The mother of two children who were riding on the bus at the time CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca that they are both fine.

“One ended up at the hospital just because she hit her head on the window, so she went for observation,” Carolyn McKay said.

“She’s all good though, little scrape and maybe a black eye.”

Principal stepped up to help

The mother of a little boy who was taken to hospital said while it was definitely a scary situation for the parents, she is glad everyone is OK.

“The hospital’s response was amazing and blew me away,” Makayla Hoglund told CTV News.

“And it was nice to see that the principal personally made sure to ride with the kids that had to go and sat there with them until parents arrived.”

Not enough room

Before crossing train tracks, school bus drivers must stop and open the door to listen for any oncoming trains.

At the intersection where the collision happened, a set of train tracks runs parallel to Highway 17.

“There is not enough room between that light and the train tracks to be completely safe for the bus to fully stop there, I don’t believe,” McKay said.

The speed limit for most of Highway 17 is 90 km/h, but drops to 50 km/h when it becomes Causley Street in Blind River.

Photos from the scene appear to show a white Gordon Food Service tractor-trailer was involved in the crash.

“We are aware of the incident on Highway 17 in Blind River, and are relieved only minor injuries were sustained,” said Karen Karatkiewicz, a Gordon Food Service spokesperson.

“The safety of our community and all individuals on the road is always our utmost concern. We are fully cooperating with the authorities as they investigate the incident.”

Algoma & Huron-Superior Transportation Services thanked everyone involved for moving quickly to ensure the safety and well-being of the students who were on board, in an email statement to CTV News.

“The Algoma Huron-Superior Transportation Consortium confirms that students from Blind River Public School and St. Mary’s Catholic School were onboard when the bus was involved in the accident this morning,” the statement reads.

“OPP and ambulances services responded and attended the scene. Schools contacted the families of the students who were on the bus, some of whom were transported to local hospital with minor injuries. AJ Bus Lines responded quickly by providing a shuttle to transport remaining students to their schools.”

CTV News also reached out to the bus operator, AJ Bus Lines, and is waiting for responses.