‘Catastrophic’ brake failure led to Columbia Icefield rollover that killed 3 people

A fatality inquiry report into a deadly tour bus rollover in Jasper National Park says it was the result of a “catastrophic” brake failure and neglected repairs.

The Ice Explorer bus lost control on a road leading to the Athabasca Glacier at the Columbia Icefield in July 2020, tumbling about 50 metres down an embankment before coming to rest on its roof.

Three people died and 14 others were seriously injured.

“In short the brakes suffered a catastrophic failure because they were worn, improperly inspected and concerns with respect to the brakes functioning were not attended to,” Justice Vaughn Myers wrote in his 13-page report.

The inquiry held a year ago, heard the driver of the bus complained the vehicle, which had air brakes, was not stopping quickly enough.

The report from the Alberta Court of Justice judge said the bus was in neutral when it stopped at the top of the hill and then reached speeds of nearly 50 kilometres an hour when it raced down.

The top speed for the Ice Explorer in 4th gear is limited to 14 kilometres an hour.

“There are two primary contributing factors. The first is the driver, for reasons unknown, negotiating the lateral moraine in neutral and without the six-wheel drive engaged,” he wrote.

“Unable to use engine power to slow the bus, the driver would have to rely on conventional braking. We know that the driver attempted to brake as a result of the sounds of the airbrakes. We can safely assume she applied the brakes because she said she did and it would be the natural human reaction to do so.”

Myers also noted that there is no requirement on the bus to have seatbelts and those who died were thrown out of the vehicles as it rolled down the embankment.

A fatality inquiry cannot assign blame but makes recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

Dionne Durocher, 24, of North Battleford, Sask., as well as Kamleshbai Patel, 58, and Griva Patel, 28, of Edmonton, died in the crash.

Myers made a number of recommendations, including that future inspection reports should be dated, as well as identify and detail what work was done during the inspections.

His report listed other contributing factors in the deaths due to the lack of seatbelts and the slope of the hill, which at 40 per cent is above the maximum grade specifications of 36 per cent set out by the manufacturer.

Brewster, also known as Pursuit, conducted its own internal investigation of the crash. The company added seatbelts to its buses and made changes to training for its drivers.