Police and fire personnel attend the scene of a fatal bus crash in Calgary on Thursday.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Three people died Thursday when a transit bus set off a chain-reaction crash on a busy Calgary road and rear-ended another bus to ignite an explosion.
Officials said the three killed were on one of the buses, and more than a dozen others were injured in the crash involving eight vehicles.
Staff Sgt. Andy Woodward said one officer was also hurt and taken to hospital after she ran toward a bus just as the fire erupted.
He said investigators were trying to figure out how it all happened.
“Our collision reconstruction (staffers) have arrived on scene and they will try to piece together what has occurred,” Woodward told reporters.
The crash happened shortly after 1 p.m., when one bus slammed into a car and hit other vehicles in the city’s northeast, near the airport.
Woodward said the bus then bounced from that crash through the intersection and hit the second bus parked bus at a bus stop, setting off the fireball.
One of the buses was powered by liquid natural gas.
The impact saw flames quickly envelop the entire roof of one bus, lifting aloft thick clouds of ash-black smoke. The force of that crash also propelled the second bus into three more vehicles.
The front end of the other bus was left crumpled and smashed, its steering wheel hanging out.
Crews from a nearby firehall quickly extinguished blazes on both buses. The area was scattered with bits of metal and debris.
“I’ve been a police officer for 36 years, and I think this is probably the biggest scene I’ve worked on in relation to the collision we’ve got here,” Woodward said.
Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Adam Loria said 19 people were injured in all. Ten were taken to hospital by ambulance.
“It was a very busy scene,” Loria said.
Mike Mahar, the president of Calgary’s transit union, said one bus driver was able to quickly escape, but the other bus driver had to be extracted by emergency crews. He was transported to hospital but Mahar said his condition is unknown.
Mahar called it a “horrific event” and a tragedy for everyone impacted.
“Our thoughts obviously go out for our members and the environment that they find themselves in today, but also for the passengers and all the families that are affected,” he said in an interview.
He said it appears that at some point the natural gas-powered bus lost control.
Mahar added that it’s not clear why the fire was so extreme and that generally natural gas buses are safe.
“It’s very unusual for this level of damage and the number of fatalities in a transit accident,” he said.
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he’s heartbroken over the deaths and injuries.
“There will be a full investigation into what happened,” Farkas said on social media.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith also shared condolences online. “My sincere thoughts are with the families of those who died and with everyone injured,” she said.
Calgary Transit says on its website that it has nearly 250 compressed natural gas-powered buses, representing about 20 per cent of its fleet.
It says it first acquired the type of bus in 2014 and that since then the fleet’s emissions have been significantly reduced.
The website says the city plans to buy 153 more natural gas buses this year to replace diesel buses.