Editor’s note: This story originally referred to the Athabasca Glacier as the Athabasca Icefield. The story has been updated to reflect the correct information.
Three days after three people were killed in a tour bus rollover on the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, crews are working to remove the rolled vehicle from the site.
Emergency crews were called around 1 p.m. on Saturday to a report that one of Banff Jasper Collection by Pursuit’s vehicles that transports people onto the Athabasca Glacier had rolled.
Twenty-seven people were on board. Three were killed and, on last update from police on Monday, four people remained in critical but stable condition as of Sunday night. One person was in serious but stable condition, RCMP said.
On Monday night, crews were able to get the snowcoach vehicle — called an Ice Explorer — upright. They left the vehicle upright overnight and arrived back on scene around 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
One of the challenges the crew is facing is to get the vehicle up the steepest part of the road to the glacier.
A Global News crew on site says crews spent Tuesday morning milling around the vehicle while a flatbed trailer waits near the entrance to the icefield.
Just before noon, crews had hooked the bus up to a tow truck and were pulling it slowly up the hill. An RCMP officer told Global News the bus was moving about one foot per minute.
RCMP are working to ensure the vehicle stays as unaffected by removal as possible because it will be a key part of the investigation into the cause of the accident.
Police will cover the vehicle with tarps once it is loaded onto the truck before towing it away for further instruction.
John Pomeroy has been studying the Columbia Icefield intensively for about eight years, but visiting it and watching it on his own for about 40 years.
The Canada Research Chair in Water Resources and Climate Change with the University of Saskatchewan said the tour company was very experienced in working on and around the glaciers.
“From what I know of the company and how they operate, they are absolutely fastidious with their equipment and assessing the road and they’ve always been very interested in any science we’ve been able to present to them so I’m not surprised they’ve gone this long without an accident,” Pomeroy said.
“It seems like a very professional operation in every way that I’ve seen over the years.”
On Sunday, the president and CEO of Pursuit said they have never had an incident like this in the 39 years it had been operating.
“We’ve been operating these vehicles since the early 80s, so we’ve had over 16 million passengers safely taken onto the ice over all these years,” Dave McKenna said on Sunday. “It’s a
favourite of literally millions who have come here to visit, so we’re deeply saddened with this tragedy today.”
Witnesses had reported possibly seeing a rockslide right before the vehicle flipped on Saturday afternoon, but RCMP said the collision reconstructionist on scene reported no signs of a rockslide in the area.
Global News confirmed the identify of one of the victims who died on Monday.
Family said 24-year-old Dionne Durocher was killed in the crash.
RCMP said they won’t be releasing the identities of the victims, but said the three were a 24-year-old woman from Canoe Narrows, Sask., a 28-year-old woman from Edmonton and a 58-year-old male from India.
There is still no word on what may have caused the vehicle to roll.