Members of Shania Twain's road crew taken to hospital after bus ...

CBC News

· Posted: Nov 08, 2023 11:12 AM EST | Last Updated: 32 minutes ago

Shania Twain's manager says members of the popular Canadian singer's production crew were taken to hospital after a crew bus rolled and a truck jack-knifed on the Trans-Canada highway in southeastern Saskatchewan on Wednesday morning.

RCMP say the crash happened on Highway 1, east of Wolseley, Sask., a town about 95 kilometres east of Regina, shortly after 7 a.m CST.

"Members of the production crew who require medical attention have been taken to nearby hospitals," Leila Hebden, Twain's manager, said in a Facebook Messenger message to CBC News.

"We are incredibly thankful for to the emergency services teams for their quick response and ongoing support."

Hebden said Twain was not on the bus. According to the SaskTel Centre, Twain's Queen of Me Tour is set to continue on Thursday night in Saskatoon.

WATCH | Tour bus rollover sends Shania Twain crew members to hospital: 

The country singer had performed in Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Dwayne Stone, fire chief for the nearby town of Grenfell, said his crew was called out to the crash. Roads were extremely slippery after the area had been doused by rain then covered in snow.

Firefighters found the bus on its side, Stone said. They had to break windows and use the bus's emergency hatch to free 13 people stuck inside.

"It looks like they lost control, went into the ditch sideways and then the wheels caught the ground and it rolled," he said.

"The bus was a double-decker bus with a sleeper unit on top. We had to cut some of that and remove some of that to get access to some of the passengers." 

All 13 people on the bus were taken to Indian Head Union Hospital, he said.

"When it rolled, all the debris trapped people in," he said. "Basically we just had to go in, gently remove items, so we can free people.

"Most of the passengers from what I understand [have] minor injuries — broken bones, cuts, bruises — but I didn't hear of any life-threatening injuries."

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said later Wednesday that two people were transferred to a hospital in Regina and the others were discharged.

Beat The Street USA — a Florida-based company specializing in buses for bands and crew — confirmed it operates the vehicle involved in the rollover. The bus had a Tennessee licence plate.

"I am devastated to have to tell you that a Beat The Street USA bus experienced black ice on the roadway causing an accident," Joerg Philip, owner of Beat The Street USA, said in a Facebook post.

"Our top priority is the heath and well-being of our passengers."

Firefighters also retrieved luggage from the bus to get the passengers' passports, Stone said.

Stone said he figured many passengers had been sleeping when the bus tipped, because they "just had their socks on and no coats," he said. "We had to give them blankets to keep warm."

Highway 1 was closed east of Wolseley to the Manitoba border on Wednesday morning due to poor driving conditions, but has since reopened.

Stone said firefighters also responded to two jack-knifed semi-trailers on the highway the same morning.