Man critically injured in crash involving school bus, motorhome and semi near Fernie

Highway 3 just east of Fernie was closed Thursday afternoon because of a crash involving a school bus, a motorhome and a tractor-trailer in which at least one person was critically injured.

A manbelieved to be about 64 years oldwas flown to the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary in critical condition, according toSTARS Air Ambulance, which was dispatched to the area.

Deanna Hill owns Snowy Peaks RV on Highway 3 and said the crash happened right in front of her business.

"It's a mess," she said. "There's nothing left of the motorhome. It's just a pile of rubble on the highway and the school bus is out of commission, as is the tractor-trailer."

The crash happened after the bus pulled over to let children off, she said.

"Amotorhome going in the eastbound direction stopped for the school bus and the truck behind went to stop and it's a 100 km/h speed zone here, right on Highway 3 and the semi-tractor trailer truck couldn't stop and basically pushed the motorhome into the school bus," she said.

'The boys are OK'

The only people left on the bus were the driver and two young boys, Hill said, and all three were able to exit the bus on their own and appeared to have avoided major injury.

"The boys are OK with some minor scratches. The bus driver had some cuts and bruising," she said.

"And the tractor-trailer [driver] seems to be OK. He's up, walking around."

It was an occupant of the motorhomewho appeared to be the most severely injured, she said.

DriveBC said the crash happened between Lynch Roadand the Hosmer Bridge, about sevenkilometres east of Fernie.

The highway remained closed until late Thursday night.

Hill said traffic around school buses is a constant concern in the area.

"I'm used to the buses honking every day here, when they go to stop, because it's always an issue out here with the buses stopping traffic right on the highway, " she said. "And there's no turn lane or anything like that, yet. There's provisions they're putting one in but, at the moment, there's nothing."

She said she was relieved to see the kids walk off the bus after the crash, as well as the bus driver, whom she knows personally.

"It could've been much worse," Hill said. "It could've been really bad."