Province investigating bus crash en route to Thompson

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This article was published 04/03/2025 (251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The province’s Motor Carrier Investigations unit is probing a bus crash Monday in northern Manitoba.

A coach operated by NCN Thompson Bus Lines hit a ditch the early morning while en route to Thompson from Winnipeg. None of the passengers were reported hurt.

Staff are also working with the RCMP to investigate the circumstances of the incident, Lisa Naylor, minister of transportation and infrastructure, told the Free Press in an email Tuesday.

The results of the investigation will determine if further action is required.

“Details are still coming in, but I am grateful that it appears there are no injuries,” Naylor wrote. “My priority is safety on our roadways, and I will continue to make sure that remains a priority.”

Fifty passengers were on board the bus when it left the road at approximately 4:15 a.m.

NCN Thompson Bus Lines acknowledged the incident on its Facebook page, posting the company was looking into it. NCN dispatched a “rescue bus” to take passengers the rest of the way to Thompson, co-owner and chief operating officer Siddharth Varma told the Free Press.

“We are still in the process of the investigation,” Varma said before cutting the call short. He did not respond to follow-up phone calls.

Bianca Bighetty, one of the passengers, said the crash left her “very sad and scared.”

The 23-year-old, who lives in Fort McMurray, Alta., was travelling to Thompson to catch a flight to visit family in Brochet, a remote fly-in community near the Saskatchewan border.

Bighetty said the trip was rough due to icy road conditions and the speed at which the driver was travelling. She said she fell asleep at one point and woke up to people screaming and crying because the bus was sliding “all over the road.”

“I thought I was having a nightmare,” Bighetty said of the moment the bus hit the ditch. “I couldn’t even scream or do anything because I was so terrified. I just kept thinking, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die.’

“I closed my eyes preparing to flip. That’s what it felt like in that moment — that we were going to flip.”

When the rescue bus arrived, she said the driver of the crashed bus got behind the wheel to take passengers the rest of the way to Thompson.

“I was scared and I was a little bit angry but I didn’t want to say anything or cause drama,” she said.

Varma founded NCN Thompson Bus Lines with James Pelk and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation in Nelson House.

Derek Hart, a member of the First Nation who sits on the bus company’s board of directors, said he does not have a lot of details but was glad no one was hurt.

“We want to make sure everything is being done properly (with the investigation) because we don’t know the extent of what happened and what led to (it) going into the ditch,” Hart said. “We will follow up with Sid (Varma) in regards to what happened.”

Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook said while she has heard complaints about NCN Thompson Bus Lines in the past, no one has reached out to her regarding Monday’s crash. She learned about it through social media.

Smook noted she recently travelled to Winnipeg using NCN Thompson Bus Lines without incident.

“It was very disheartening to hear” about Monday’s crash, she said. “I hope it’s well-investigated.”

When announcing a new route to Flin Flon from Winnipeg last month, Varma said he and his colleagues are serious about passengers’ safety and comfort.

“Yes, a couple of times we had issues and there have been negative social media posts in the past, but we are giving a lot of serious effort and investment toward making sure the buses are safe and secure and they have operational heat,” he said at the time.

Kasper Wabinski, founder of the Coast to Coast Bus Coalition and owner of Ontario-based Kasper Bus Lines, said he was worried about the impression such incidents have on people considering bus travel.

“I feel bad for the passengers; it’s a horrific experience to be in,” he said. “God forbid something more serious happened.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca