About 20 injured in Mackenzie bus crash as two hospitals activate emergency plans

The first police account described multiple people hurt after a bus left Highway 39 near Mackenzie, British Columbia. The fuller picture is a much larger medical emergency: about 20 people injured, multiple air and ground ambulances deployed, and two hospitals activating plans to receive an influx of patients. What has not become clearer is why the bus left the road.⁠¹

The single-vehicle crash happened on Wednesday morning, November 4, 2026, about four kilometres south of Mackenzie, north of Prince George. BC Highway Patrol said police received the collision call at 9:10 a.m. and arrived to find a white shuttle bus in a ditch. That time marks the call to police, not a separately established moment of impact.⁠¹

The injuries ranged from minor to serious, according to the police statement reproduced by Global News. The overall estimate needs care: the report describes about 20 people hurt, while its detailed account refers to the driver and about 20 passengers with injuries. Those descriptions do not establish an exact total of either 20 or 21.⁠¹

CBC’s live reporting, citing BC Emergency Health Services, identified three people in serious condition and four as “serious but stable.” That is only a partial patient-condition breakdown. It does not account for everyone injured, and a final patient tally and subsequent medical outcomes have not been confirmed.⁠¹⁰

Emergency crews initially requested multiple ambulances and an air ambulance. The response ultimately involved multiple air and ground ambulances carrying injured people to treatment, while personnel provided care at the scene and investigators began examining the collision.⁠¹

Northern Health confirmed to Global News that Mackenzie and District Hospital and the University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George had both declared Code Orange. That designation activates preparations for a potential mass-casualty event and an anticipated influx of patients; it is not a declaration that anyone has died. The health authority did not provide individual conditions or say how many patients each hospital was treating.⁠¹

The bus charter was arranged by an IREN contractor. IREN, which operates artificial-intelligence cloud services and data centres, told Global News it was in contact with the contractor, emergency responders and the RCMP as they worked to establish what happened.⁠¹

“Our immediate concern is for everyone on board and their families, and we are supporting the response however we can,” the company said. The contractor’s role identifies who arranged the charter, not who operated the bus. The operator, passenger roster and purpose of the journey have not been established, and the charter connection does not establish the occupation of everyone aboard.⁠¹

Police had made no arrests in the detailed account and said they had not ruled out possible causes. Finding a bus in a ditch establishes where it ended up, not what sent it there. The available evidence does not establish weather, road conditions, a mechanical problem or a driver’s actions as the explanation.⁠¹

Sgt. Michael McLaughlin of BC Highway Patrol described the immediate difficulty: “This was a chaotic scene, and police will need time to sort out many of the details.” His appeal focused on evidence from before the vehicle left the highway—dash-camera footage of the bus and witnesses who saw what was happening before the crash.⁠¹

That distinction matters. Images of the aftermath can show the scale of the emergency, but investigators are seeking the sequence that preceded it. Until that is established, the size of the ambulance response and the seriousness of the injuries cannot explain the cause.

The last verified road account described Highway 39 as completely closed for several hours, with no alternate route around the scene. Police’s initial expectation that the closure would last several hours was an estimate, not a reopening deadline. A reopening time and current DriveBC status have not been verified, so that earlier account should not be treated as a live traffic guarantee.⁠¹

With no alternate route, the closure added an immediate access problem while emergency personnel treated patients and investigators examined the highway. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Brett Urano asked the public to avoid the area and give responders room to work. “Drivers should expect significant delays and are encouraged to check DriveBC before travelling,” he said.⁠¹

The next consequential updates are a reconciled patient count and condition report, confirmation of the highway’s reopening, and police findings explaining why the bus left the road. For now, the scale of the response is established; the medical outcome and the cause remain unresolved.