Crash on the Coquihalla or

HOLY SHITBALLS

This is going to be part news report, part personal reflections of the bus accident on the Coquihalla (coke) highway in BC, Canada yesterday which by the end of the day had media reporting these essentials;

• There was 19 ambulances and 6 medical choppers dispatched.
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• It happened about 30 kms south of Merritt, BC
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• There was a total of 43 persons injured, with 7 in critical condition at various hospitals. Nobody died.
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• All the closest hospitals, Kelowna, Merritt and Kamloops were issued Code Orange - basically meaning prepare for a large influx of patients. Call everyone in and get ready.
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• The bus went into the meridian, overcompensated coming back out and slid on its side across the freeway, flipping upright on the other side. A tractor trailer's dashboard cam recorded the whole thing.
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• The tour bus was chartered by (seriously, who gives a shit) and the driver was assigned by the charter company.

And fluff, fluff, fluff - let's get the official statements.

And this is what pisses me off about mass media and why I'm writing this. That's not the real story. The real story is what happened in that 10-15 minutes before the first ambulance showed up. Over 40 strangers stopped to help the victims of that bus crash. Disclaimer, I am one of them, having reached the scene before the dust had literally even settled. I was one of the many to call 911 and tell them to 'mobilize everyone, mass casualties'.  I hung up on them when the operator started asking me my personal information as I was crossing the meridian. Seriously, there were more important matters at hand. People were hurt.


There were already about 5 of us rushing over with more coming from every direction. And that to me is what is so amazing and so frustrating when I think about that afternoon after the fact and read the news reports - we see the footage of disasters, bombings in a world that most of us will never travel to. Jews vs Palestinians, Muslims vs everyone. Russia vs. Ukraine. We talk about foreign workers taking our jobs and want immigration curtailed. Black Americans are no better under Obama than when he first took office eight years ago. They are still getting shot for 'just being black' and we think 'well, that's their problem'. The media leaves us with this impression that everybody hates everybody, the world is a dangerous place, we can die any minute so be thankful for what little we have. Us adults talk about how we used to go bike riding as kids but now everyone is a potential child rapist. It's too dangerous for our kids to go anywhere alone so we buy them ipads and let them flash their genitals at random strangers or vice versa in the comfort of their bedrooms because 'we care'.

Vouch that this is probably the earliest photo;
the bag of clothing used for compresses isn't there yet.

The media does it's duty; reports on the amount of first responders, those who are supposedly willing to die in the call of duty, civilian safety and pay checks. The official first questions which are always speculation. 

It doesn't matter what they think happened, it matters what did happen. People saved people.

Then there are always sound bites and interviews of nearly eye-witnesses; people whose stories are edited to glorify the tragedy of [insert news event here] before they throw it all over to Chuck for a Weather Update and Todd to tell you what your local sports team is doing.

No wonder it seems nobody gives a shit about anyone else when in all of 'our' mass media the overall consensus is that Bad Shit Always Happens. It serves to keep us in fear, to worry about us as individuals but not as a whole. The news doesn't make us care about us as people, just us as a statistic. I'm surprised somebody didn't report on how much the bus cost or the estimation of damages.

Anybody and anything can kill you at any time and they are there to remind you about that. This shock journalism underlines the fragility of us as a whole and speaks little to human nature as a whole. What it fails to underline (or even byline) is that when presented with a situation in which there are no first responders to tell them what to do, there are those that will answer the call to action to help others, no matter what religion, skin colour, nationality or income bracket anybody is because when it comes down to it; we are people helping people. Actions speak louder than words so you can dump a bucket of water on your head and post it on social media or you can do one better; find someone you think needs help and actually help them. You do that by introducing yourself to someone you think is in need and go from there. Tell them you are just working on your Karma points and ask them if you can do them a favour. I dare you.

This is my preferable version of a honest headline reporting on the crash;

Tour Bus Accident on Coquihalla; multiple injuries, no deaths reported.

In what could have been a far worse story, 40 strangers from all walks of life came to the aid of the victims of a horrendous bus crash on the Coquihalla Highway, 30 kms south of Merritt, BC. 


I know it doesn't sound as scary. But find me a newspaper that has this attitude and I'll give them a friggin' medal.

Luckily, in those first few minutes after the bus went off the road there were five qualified personnel that identified themselves (to me) on scene; yours truly, a simple volunteer firefighter from Lavington, Terry and Laurie, a veteran firefighter and his wife from Langley, a Matt Peetrie and Natasha (a doctor and nurse from Kelowna) and Trish Murphy, another doctor relocating from Toronto to Vancouver Island.

Dr. Matt identified himself as a Doctor and became commanding officer of the incident; he and Dr. Trish were the ones to take immediate inventory of the injured and he was the one to call in the Code Orange to local hospitals. We created a triage; a system to identify the most critical patients to those with only minor injuries. Those with first aid experience identified themselves and even those that had no first aid stepped forward and we all became compassionate human beings helping others. Two ladies that were driving school buses provided not only first aid kits but offered transportation if needed for the wounded. They weren't 'brought in to assist' as some news outlets reported; they were there already.

Immediately, anything and everything that could be used as a compress and any first aid kits available was donated from those vehicles that stopped. People all found someone to attend to and began to put pressure on open wounds and provide comfort for those that needed it. While many of the victims didn't speak English, I am confident just someone holding their hand saying 'it's going to be ok' in a foreign language meant a lot.

just some of the supplies that were donated to stop bleeding, including donated cases of water.

Gory details [spoiler alert] or 'what does critical mean anyways'?

First, there was nobody under the bus; what 'near' eye-witnesses reported seeing as people under the bus were actually people that were on the window glass as the bus skidded across the freeway and when the bus flipped back on its wheels, those people fell out of the windows and landed at the base of the vehicle. Some may have fallen out after the vehicle righted itself, which is the blood you can see on the side of the bus in some pictures.

There were at least 4 passengers that were immediately identified as being in critical condition; 3 of the 4 i saw had massive head wounds, foreheads ripped open, visible skull showing. One man in such a state was at the head of the bus, a large flap of forehead covering the right side of his face. Two women were outside. One woman also had a severe laceration in her neck that just missed her jugular and was soon unconscious. She was prioritized as the most critical and was the first to be air-lifted out. Another had severe cuts to her arms but was quickly and efficiently bandaged and while her attendant was concerned about her, primary survey showed that she was stable and not in immediate need of more assistance. Triage is about identifying the worst to the best and while the lady with her may have been concerned and I may have come off as a bit unconcerned, the truth is that she was doing fine, both the victim and the volunteer staying with her.

There was blood everywhere; a lot of lacerated scalps and cut arms. That made it look worse than it was; seeing blood is scary but easy to wash off. Blood dried on the faces of the wounded and after being there for three hours, the smell of congealing blood isn't one that will fade from memory anytime soon. There was a lady with a possible broken femur and collarbone, more than a few that we didn't want to move due to possible spinal injuries. They were mostly the ones at the side of the bus. If a person couldn't move on their own, we didn't try to move them.

The first ambulance arrived from Merritt in 10-15 minutes. Time becomes really difficult to be aware of in those situations. Paramedic Sheena and her partner were thrust into a tragedy and performed admirably; we began setting up a triage for the wounded and get an idea of how many were on board. Next to arrive were the police and Merritt volunteer firefighters. Their presence was invaluable from even a psychological standpoint; more help had arrived and they brought stretchers and tools.

We began to identify those that could speak English and one or two coming upon the scene also volunteered to be translators. That helped one man immensely who was trying to communicate to us that he wanted to keep his family together - I was able to tell him his son was going to be fine however he needed to go first to a hospital before the other members of his family (the essence of triage).

There was one boy who was being comforted while he was on a laptop. That was surreal. Shock? Updating his facebook status?  I don't know.
There was another little girl, no more than four who was held by her father the entire time. I helped bandage her foot where she had a small scrape. They stayed beside Mom who needed to be put on a spine board. When i left she was still there, asleep on her Dad's shoulder.

As emergency personnel began to arrive, people stayed and provided as much assistance as possible; handing out water bottles, covering people in those foil emergency blankets, even just still holding hands with those that could not be moved. They were invaluable to the victims; I hope that they all understand that no matter where they went on to. I spent most of last night thinking of things I could have done different, things I didn't do or should have done. There's a feeling of helplessness as you walk from victim to victim, telling them to remain still and be patient. I woke up that night at 4am, thinking of things I could have done different, wondering why I didn't do this or that. I can close my eyes and see those three opened foreheads, that man in the front seat, that lady's open neck wound.

But back to my story and main point that isn't covered in the mass media; there were people of all colours and religions helping. I saw a young man wearing a jew cap (yamaka?) walking towards the scene, other young men were helping unload victims on spinal boards off the bus through the front window. Others were providing wind breaks from helicopter blades as the air medics began arriving. Moving equipment out of the way, covering people with blankets, holding IV drips. People helping people. Nobody blaming anyone else. The driver was conscious and walking; I don't know what happened to him but I wish him all the best; he didn't mean for this to happen and yet unless there is a mechanical malfunction of the bus found, he will be blamed.

Once the critical ones taken away still alive and the arrival of crash scene investigators, camera people and an influx of people wearing safety vests began to outnumber the wounded, it was time to go. I left after seeing a RCMP member giving a statement to a video camera. Police had started getting the facts of the accident; placing cones back where the bus first went into the meridian. I said good bye and thank you to those that i had met and been there as long as me. Very few will know the true difference the real first responders did, as is the case in nearly every major accident. For some reason, its not important to the media who was there first, only who was paid to be there first.

Part 2 The day after the day after. Or f@#k the media

Of course, I have been kind of curious as to how this is presented; after all it's the difference between CNN reporting an explosion in Baghdad vs. the person who's house was blown up reporting it.

Here's the lead in for a nameless BC newspaper describing the event;

'When the tour bus carrying Janice Wong's family and dozens of other tourists stopped rolling along a mountain highway in British Columbia, the 19-year-old found herself in a writhing heap of people catapulted from the vehicle.

The scene was so bloody and dusty she couldn't tell who was who. She screamed out for her parents.

"I couldn't see — I was panicking at the same time," Wong said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"I was like, 'I don't know what the hell just happened. Where's my parents? Holy crap. Are they dead?' It was just blood everywhere."

I'm not dismissing her account; she was scared. I get that. Everyone was. But does it need to be at the start? What about starting with this quote instead, located further down in the same article?

"The scratches are OK," said James Wong, 68, who was wearing someone else's glasses and clothing still spattered with blood.

"But life is life. When (something) comes, it comes. We can't expect anything. That's the way I look at it."

How fucking glorious a statement is that? Life is life. The scratches are OK. When it comes, it comes...


And here's another great one line sentence in an overly-gory summary by a witness on CBC.

'The people were really being taken care of exceptionally well by so many bystanders.'

That's a nice line isn't it? Too bad it's sandwiched in these paragraphs in the middle of the story;

[XXXXXXXX] says it was a chaotic scene. People were frightened.

“They were so scared. There were children and lots of screaming and crying. It was horrific ... just awful to see and I felt awful because I couldn’t really do anything," she said.

"There were paper towels covered in blood blowing around. Garments that had fallen out the windows were strewn along the side ... glass everywhere."

"The people were really being taken care of exceptionally well by so many bystanders. A few of the cars right near the front had a couple of doctors. Two of them were ER doctors which is always amazing to come upon in situation like that.”

"When the ambulances arrived, they had loads of blankets to cover the victims. Some were sitting up in shock. Some were laying down, in gurneys. They were calling anyone with muscles near the accident scene to help lift people on to gurneys."

Then Batman arrived and everyone felt way better.

And I'm seeing opinions/questions as to if the speed limit (120km) was a factor. It's same as asking if August was a factor. It's asking a question to suggest a 'fault' without any factual evidence of the crash scene. It's completely irresponsible bullshit. The road was fairly straight where it happened, no real curves as we like to think of a curve.

I travel that pass 2x a month - its a beautiful piece of highway, very safe for driving at speeds of 120 km (unless of course during winter). Where that accident happened, there were no 'twists and turns'. In fact, most of the Coke is pretty straight. There are a lot of rigs on the road but the highway is mostly 2 lanes, in some spots three lanes. There are frequent radar traps on the road so if you get caught speeding, hey - you were going faster than 120.  The bus wasn't.

But I digress. The victims are getting better each day. Most of the images I have will fade from memory and while it's not someone wants on any bucket list, a lot of us can honestly say we did the right thing when it came down to it. We helped other people because we could. That's what humans do for one another.