Seatbelts added to Columbia Icefield buses, company quietly starts offering tours again

JASPER, Alta. – There are now seatbelts in the massive ice explorers that tour the Columbia Icefield in the wake of last summer’s deadly rollover.

Three people were killed and two dozen others injured last July when one of the sightseeing vehicles went out of control, rolling several times down a mountainside in Jasper National Park.

Tim James, who works at our sister station NEWS 1130 in Vancouver, was one of the many people injured.

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He doesn’t remember the crash, because he suffered a head injury in the rollover.

But he says he can’t believe the tours have just quietly started running again without addressing what happened.

“[You] should tell people that you’re doing this. This is a big change. I mean, this is a crash that took the lives of three people. It changed the lives of others. My friend can’t walk and may never walk again because of this crash,” he said.

“So, for Columbia Icefields to reopen and not say anything and just quietly do it, I think that speaks volumes as well.”

James added in a series of tweets that there seemed to be a bigger focus on COVID-19 safety from the company than any kind of safety measures stemming from last summer’s crash.

He believes seatbelts on the bus could have saved lives.

Staff have also told him that training has been stepped up, but we haven’t heard anything official yet from the tour company.

We’ve reached out to the company for comment.

An RCMP investigation into the crash was expected to wrap this spring, but there haven’t been any updates on the probe.

Mounties had previously said they wouldn’t be sharing details of the investigation until a report was completed.

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