Roads have re-opened following bus-truck collision in western Saskatchewan

KERROBERT, Sask. – The rural Saskatchewan intersection where a collision between a semi-truck and a bus sent 10 people to hospital re-opened early Saturday, as police continued to investigate the cause of the Friday afternoon crash.

Nobody died as a result of the crash, RCMP said in a media release, but three people were taken to hospitals in Saskatoon and seven others were sent to a hospital nearby in Kerrobert.

Sixteen workers were on the bus, investigators said.

Police did not release the nature or extent of the injuries, but noted that the driver of the grain truck was not hurt.

Chris Bunz said he was driving by and saw the semi-truck in the middle of the intersection and a white bus lying on its side in the shoulder, dented but with windows intact.

"(The semi) looked like it had probably just a little front end damage, and the bus had a little bit of rippling in the side, so I don't think it was too, too big a collision, but enough to put the bus over," he said in a phone interview.

Bunz, a resident of nearby Unity, Sask., said the presence of industrial activity, heavy traffic and speeding drivers make the intersection where the crash occurred a particularly dangerous one.

"There's a lot of equipment parked at the corner they have a stockpile of dirt and a bunch of equipment too, so it's kind of distracting, because you have that right in that corner and lots of traffic too," he said.

The crash comes just days after the Humboldt Broncos played their first game since the April collision involving the hockey team's bus and a transport truck at a rural Saskatchewan highway intersection.

Sixteen people, including 10 players, were killed and 13 players were injured in that crash.

The driver of that truck, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, is charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily injury.

Sidhu, who was not hurt in the crash, was released on $1,000 bail in July under conditions he not drive and that he surrender his passport.