One person is dead and several others are injured after a school bus crash north of Lac La Hache Friday afternoon.
B.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Melissa Jongema said 100 Mile House RCMP were called to a bus crash on the highway at Butler Road at about 1 p.m. PT.
In an emailed statement, the B.C. Highway Patrol later said the bus was travelling on Highway 97 when it went off the road and down an embankment.
A photo posted to the Facebook group Williams Lake Speak Up appears to show a yellow school bus down an embankment along the highway.
Police said the crash was followed by a second incident in which a person was struck by a vehicle at the same location. They said despite the life-saving efforts of first responders, the person died.
About 30 people were on the bus, including students and adults.
In an email to CBC News, B.C. Emergency Health Services spokesperson Brian Twaites said 11 ambulances and seven air ambulances were sent to the scene, along with local firefighters and police.
Police said none of the bus passengers are missing, and numerous people who were on the bus have been taken to hospital with various injuries.
Students on the bus were in grades 6 and 7 from 100 Mile Elementary and Horse Lake Elementary, on the way home from a field trip to Gavin Lake, according to Chris van der Mark, the superintendent of the Cariboo-Chilcotin School District.
He said the school district is working with police to ensure parents and guardians of the students on the bus are informed. Parents are being told to meet their kids at the South Cariboo Rec Centre in 100 Mile House, van der Mark said.
“Our biggest focus right now is just making sure that our staff and our students are okay,” he told CBC on Friday afternoon.
Radio West7:14Emergency crews respond to a school bus crash in the Cariboo near Lac La Hache
Emergency crews respond to a school bus crash in the Cariboo near Lac La Hache. We speak to a witness who got turned around as Highway 97 was shut down.
RCMP are asking people to avoid the area. Cindy Marcotte said she was driving home to Prince George when she was caught in traffic delays after the crash.
“I just feel sick for the families. I hope the kids are okay,” she said. “As a parent and a grandparent, it’s a terrible thing to be close to something this awful.”