Off-duty officer, 2 children die in bus collision near Oromocto, N.B.
Last Updated: Monday, February 16, 2009 | 4:45 PM AT
CBC News
An accident Sunday night on Highway 7 between Saint John and Fredericton claimed the lives of an off-duty RCMP officer and his young son and daughter.
Const. Jason Porter, 31, and his children, Hannah, 5, and Jack, 2, died in a car accident on Sunday night outside Oromocto, N.B. (RCMP) According to the RCMP, a car was outside Oromocto and driving toward Saint John at about 7 p.m. AT when it lost control on the icy road and collided with a bus being operated by Acadian Lines.
The RCMP have identified the victims as Const. Jason Porter, a 31-year old member of the RCMP. Also in the car were his daughter Hannah, 5, and son Jack, 2.
Porter was a member of the RCMP in Grand Bay-Westfield, a town outside Saint John.
At the time of the accident, he was on his way home from visiting his parents in the Woodstock area.
Porter was born in Saint John and had been a member of the RCMP for eight years.
'Quite a disaster'
Sgt. Claude Tremblay, a RCMP spokesman, said police are trying to reconstruct the accident scene.
"It's quite a disaster really, when you look at a complete family like that," Tremblay said.
"But we're still working on that [investigation]."
Tremblay said two of the family members died on the scene. The third was taken to a local hospital but later died because of injuries sustained in the crash.
Tremblay said no one on the bus was hurt.
"The car slid sideways in front of the bus. It was very slippery conditions, icy roads," he said.
Slippery road
The car involved in a crash that killed an off-duty RCMP officer and his two young children is moved from the accident scene near Oromocto, N.B. (CBC) Although the bus was being used by Acadian Lines, it was a CanAm Charter Service with a Can Am driver, according to Mike Hurley, owner of the service.
"The biggest thing for me is that I feel for the families belonging to the victims, especially the small children," Hurley said. "I have small children myself. I don't know the people, but like I said, I'm very, very sorry."
Meg Clark was sitting in the front seat of the bus and said she noticed that the roads were getting slippery. But she thought nothing of the driving conditions until a car driving in the other lane began swerving.
"The car ahead of us swerved so they avoided each other, but then the one coming to us ended up sliding on its side. The bus tried to avoid it, but it ended up hitting us right on its side," she said.
Clark said some bus passengers even ran out to check on the other vehicle.
