Teen dies in school bus crash

A teenage girl, on her way to a central Alberta school yesterday morning, is dead after her school bus’s back end was ripped apart in a chain-reaction collision.
A 14-year-old boy is in critical condition in an Edmonton hospital, say Mounties. A dense morning fog blanketed the area near Rimbey, 145 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, at the time of the crash.
Sgt. Patrick Webb, a spokesman with the RCMP, says the bus was picking up students around 8:15 a.m. near a farmhouse on Highway 53 about three kms east of Highway 22.
An SUV had stopped behind the bus before a westbound gravel truck slammed into both vehicles, ripping a large chunk off the back of the bus.
In the collision’s aftermath, students who are in their final year of high school at Rimbey Junior and Senior High School are without their fellow classmate, 17-year-old Jennifer Dawn Noble.
Rimbey Mayor Dale Barr says the Grade 12 student’s death has left his community in shock.
“This is not a good day for the town,” said Barr, who knows Noble’s parents.
“When a youth is lost in a tight-knit community, it’s tough.”
The family has requested privacy.
Dr. Larry Jacobs, superintendent of the Wolf Creek School Board, told Metro that 12 students were aboard the bus heading to three different schools.
Webb says investigators are still trying to pinpoint what caused the crash to determine if charges should be laid.
“There is a whole bunch of issues that they have to consider before they determine the cause or causes of this collision,” said Webb. “There might be multiple causes here.”
-jeff.cummings@metronews.ca