Montreal students in N.Y. bus accident
Last Updated: Saturday, November 14, 2009 | 12:59 AM ET
CBC News
Students from Vanier College in Montreal wait for transport from the scene of a bus accident in Lake George, N.Y., on Friday. Derek Pruitt/ The Post-Star/ AP Photo)A Canadian tour bus in New York state crashed Friday morning, after the driver apparently fell asleep at the wheel, police said.
State police said the bus was carrying 30 students from Montreal's Vanier College on a day trip to New York City, though none were injured.
The accident occurred in Lake George, a town about 100 kilometres north of Albany.
Troopers said the bus went off the right side of the highway, hit a guardrail, veered back across the southbound lanes, crossed the median and rolled onto the northbound passing lane.
Police said the driver, 56-year-old Christian Babin of Warwick, Que., wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the bus. He was in critical condition at Albany Medical Center.
"He had some internal injuries, from what I understand," Jeff Brown, who books several trips a year for Vanier students, told CBC News. "Fractured ribs, and a pierced lung."
Brown's company, Spiral Tours, got a call from one of the co-ordinators on the bus barely 15 minutes after the crash. The students were taken to a fire hall in Lake George, and some were quite shaken, he said.
"Obviously, the kids were shocked. It was obviously a very traumatic experience, and when I asked them … do you want to keep going to New York, the majority still wanted to go," Brown said.
About 20 of the students are now in New York City for the weekend, as planned on another bus, while six decided they were too shaken up and were shuttled back to Montreal by parents.
Police said Babin will face multiple traffic charges.
