Christmas Eve Bus Crash Survivors Still in Hospital but Expected to Recover

Over 50 passengers of an Ebus were taken to hospitals after the bus rolled over due to icy conditions on Christmas eve but fortunately, the remaining seven passengers that were hospitalized are expected to survive. At the time of the accident, four passengers lost their lives, including a Sikh man who had recently come to Canada.

Michaela Swan, a spokesperson for Interior Health, shared that the remaining seven patients from the Highway 97C bus accident are still in the hospital but have non-life-threatening issues. Two of these patients were previously reported to have serious conditions. Swan added that at the time of the crash, many of the healthcare staff present had volunteered to help when they heard the news.

No comment was made by the Alberta-based bus operator, Ebus. However, it did state that bus services in B.C. were suspended till December 26. It announced on Twitter that services will resume Tuesday, December 27.

On Christmas eve, an Ebus carrying over 50 passengers rolled over on Highway 97C, also called the Okanagan Connector. RCMP confirmed at the time that four people had lost their lives and many more were sent to the hospital. Interior Health then shared in a statement that 52 passengers were taken to multiple hospitals and 36 of them required medical treatment.

One of the four casualties was a Punjabi man named Karanjot Singh Sodhi, 41, from Butala, Amritsar. Gurpreet S. Sahota, the editor of Surrey-based Akal Guardian newspaper, shared on Twitter, “One of the four people killed in a bus accident on December 24 on the Vancouver-Kelowna route included Karanjot Singh Sodhi, 41.” He added that Sodhi recently came to Canada on a work permit in September. Sodhi reportedly worked as a chef in a restaurant in an Okanagan winery. He had a wife, a son, and a daughter in his village in Punjab.

The identities of the other victims are unknown. RCMP said on Monday it was having trouble identifying all of the passengers because of the urgency of the situation. The police also shared that there were international tourists on the bus as well.

Vineet Washington