KEREMEOS, B.C. — A rock slide near Keremeos which closed Highway 3 left dozens of students stranded Tuesday.
READ MORE: Another rock slide closes Highway 3 near Keremeos
About 40 students from Similkameen Elementary Secondary School had no way of getting home after the highway was shut down. The school bus which drops off children in Hedley was unable to pass the slide.
Principal Cate Turner says the students had to bunk up with family, friends and other community members in Keremeos for the night. Many students still haven’t made it home.
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“It’s scary,” says parent Brianne Stewart, whose two daughters were on the school bus. “If the slide didn’t happen until ten minutes later, our kids would have been in the front line of it.”
The slide has since been cleared and the highway opened Wednesday afternoon, but the incident leaves lingering questions about safety. A slide happened in the same area in January, closing the highway for numerous days. The B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure built a 3-metre high concrete wall on the highway after that slide, but residents say that’s not enough.
READ MORE: Construction underway in Keremeos slide area
“It’s putting a band-aid on a big issue,” says Stewart. “They’re playing with people’s lives here, they’re playing Russian roulette. We use that road everyday. Tiny cement barriers? What’s that going to do?”
Stewart is grateful her daughters are coming home and for the generosity of family and friends who housed the students, but she and other concerned residents want something to be done to make Highway 3 safer.
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