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UPDATE: School bus collides with pickup truck near Sylvan Lake

No injuries to the school bus driver and eight children. Pickup driver taken to hospital.

Eight children and their school bus driver escaped injury after a head-on collision with a pickup early Wednesday morning.

The pickup driver was freed from the wreckage and was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.

The collision happened just east of Sylvan Lake at Hwy 11A at Range Road 11 around 7:30 a.m.

Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools superintendent Paul Mason said the eight children were being taken to Red Deer’s École Camille J. Lerouge School and St. Teresa of Avila School.

“Thank goodness, they’re all uninjured,” said Mason.

It was impossible not to think of the Humboldt bus tragedy that has left 16 dead when the school division was alerted to the collision.

“In light of Saskatchewan, a phone call like this is unsettling to say the least.

“We’re just so happy and saying our prayers that everyone seems to have come through safe and uninjured.”

As soon as the division received word of the collision parents were notified and support services immediately provided to them and the bus driver.

“Victim Services has also reached out to the families and the bus driver as well.”

A replacement bus was sent to the scene and, despite the frightening experience, all students chose to take that bus to school. École Camille J. Lerouge goes from pre-kindergarten to Grade 9 and St. Teresa offers pre-kindergarten to Grade 5. The youngest child on the bus is in Grade 2.

Mason praised the woman driving the bus, whom he declined to name. She has been driving with the school division since 2014 and is hugely popular with her young passengers and their families.

“Her families love her as a bus driver, and she was truly simply amazing after the initial accident occurred in supporting the students, making sure they were safe and well taken care of.

“Now we’re making sure she’s taken care of,” he said.

“We’re just thankful it ended up as it has and not much, much worse.”

An RCMP collision analyst was called in to investigate. No information on what may have led to the crash collision has been released.

Traffic on Hwy 11A was re-routed for a number of hours in both directions from the traffic circle at Highway 11A and Highway 20 and Range Road 10.



pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com

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Eight children escaped uninjured after their school bus and a pickup truck collided near Sylvan Lake about 7:30 a.m. this morning. Photo by PAUL COWLEY/Advocate staff
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Eight children escaped uninjured after their school bus and a pickup truck collided near Sylvan Lake about 7:30 a.m. this morning. Photo by PAUL COWLEY/Advocate staff