Aftermath of fatal crash involving a public transit bus on Ord Road in Kamloops/via Patrick McLeod on Facebook
Kamloops RCMP have confirmed that one person is dead, following a crash involving a bus belonging to BC Transit and a tanker truck.
The crash took place Wednesday morning in the 900 block of Ord Road, just off the 8th Street intersection.
“Ord Road remains closed as police are on scene investigating the crash and sadly, one person is deceased,” said Corporal Dana Napier Kamloops RCMP spokesperson in a notification sent out shortly after noon on Wednesday.
“We are asking the public to refrain from going to the area as police are investigating the cause of the crash.”
It’s not clear which vehicle the person who was killed was driving in, but by the appearance of the damage to the bus, it would suggest the driver took a direct hit from the tanker truck.
Kamloops RCMP have confirmed the bus was NOT in service at the time, and thus was not carrying any passengers.
Closer view of damage to bus involved in a fatal crash on Ord Road just off of 8th Street in north Kamloops on Wednesday morning/via Patrick McLeod on Facebook
The transit bus was not in service, therefore no passengers were onboard.
The area where the crash took place is close to the BC Transit maintenance facility.
The crash itself had the potentially a lot worse, as the transit bus collided with a tanker truck reportedly carrying a full tank of fuel.
“As a result of the crash fuel was spilled and Kamloops Fire Rescue is on scene to clean up the spill,” said Kamloops RCMP shortly after the crash, which took place at around 10:30am.
The crash caused the second major road closure of the day in Kamloops, after RCMP shut down Mission Flats Road for a couple of hours this morning.
That route — the main road to the Kruger Pulp Mill — was shut down as CPKC Police investigated a report that a pedestrian had been struck by a train.
However, Kamloops Mounties say after an extensive search of the area, no victim was located.
Train and vehicle traffic was eventually restored, but not before at least a dozen truck drivers — many of them delivering chips and other wood products to Kruger for pulping — ended up being stuck on the other side of the shutdown, as Mission Flats Road was the only open route available to them.
