A school bus that crashed into a home on 16th Ave in Burnaby B.C. is shown on Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. Eleven people have been sent to hospital. BC Emergency Health Services says in a statement that all 11 patients are in stable condition. Health Services says the call came in just before 8 a.m. today about the accident.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
November 09, 2023 - 12:10 PM
BURNABY, B.C. - Adrian Striga says that if he had slept in Thursday morning, it could have cost him his life.
Instead, the carpenter was at work when a school bus crashed through the window of his Burnaby apartment and into his empty bedroom just before 8 a.m.
"I was at work and I got a call from one of the other neighbours and there's a bus through the house, literally through my room where I sleep," he said.
Eleven people were sent to hospital and are in stable condition after the crash, BC Emergency Health Services said in a statement.
A spokesman for Burnaby RCMP says there were "about a dozen kids on the bus."
Striga said there are three apartments in the basement of the home at the corner of Canada Way and 16th Avenue.
Photos posted on social media show a 24-seat bus that appears to have smashed through a low brick wall then through the front wall and windows of the home.
Standing outside on Thursday, Striga said he was feeling emotional and upset as police waited for an engineer to arrive before the bus could be pulled out.
"I don't even know if I'm going have a place to stay. I don't have renters' insurance and the owner's insurance doesn't cover for a hotel for me to stay (at)," he said.
He said his family has already launched an online fundraising campaign to help him.
"I don't even know what to think right now. The more I talk about it, the more reality is hitting," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2023.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2023