The bus that went off Highway 97 north of Prince George late Thursday afternoon was carrying employees working at Canfor's Polar Sawmill in Bear Lake, the company has confirmed.
B.C. Emergency Health Services said 16 of the 32 people who were on the bus were transported to hospital. Four were taken by ambulance with three of them suffering from life-threatening injuries and one in severe condition. Another bus was brought in to transport the remaining 12 who were in stable condition.
All were discharged by 10 p.m., Canfor spokesperson Michelle Wright said.
Among them was Brad Foster. According to his posting on Facebook, he was knocked around in what he called the "worst ride of my life."
"When we took a 30-foot jump off the highway I tried to hold onto the armrests but we hit so hard I ended up kissing the roof of the bus with my ass before being slammed into the drivers seat, where the windshield used to be," he said. "On top of the driver and another guy."
Foster said he suffered severe bruising to his leg and a bump to his elbow and noted it was outside the windshield by the time the bus had stopped.
"I think there were five people ejected from the bus, the guy in front of me went through the windshield and was about eight feet in front of the bus when it stopped....he walked away!
"A few people with worse injuries than mine, some looked pretty severe."
Emergency personnel were called to the scene at Mitchell Road, near Huble Homestead about 20 kilometres north of the city, at about 3:45 p.m.
RCMP said no other vehicles were involved in the crash.
A combination of rain and snow had fallen in the area for most of the day and while the cause remained under investigation, RCMP said weather conditions at the time may have been a factor.
The highway was reopened to single-lane, alternating traffic by 7:30 p.m. and completely reopened by 1 a.m., according to DriveBC.
Wright said Friday the sawmill was up and running. "Fridays are always maintenance days and that work is proceeding as normal today," she said.
