Three Manitoba high school students were airlifted to Winnipeg after the school bus they were on slid off the highway and rolled multiple times. Drayah Maytwayashing, one of the students, recalled waking up to the bus swerving and ending up in a ditch. She described blacking out and then waking up on the other side of the bus with a big gash on her forehead.
Maytwayashing, along with her brother Drayden Genaille and cousin Michelle Chartrand, all from Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, were among the 15 people on the bus. Maytwayashing suffered a gash on her head and two small fractures on her pelvis. Genaille was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday night, while Maytwayashing and Chartrand were released the following day.
According to RCMP, four individuals sustained significant but non-life-threatening injuries in the rollover. Other students were treated for injuries at the scene and taken to Swan Valley Health Centre in Swan River. One patient is expected to remain in stable condition at the health center.
Genaille and Chartrand, who were looking forward to lunch with friends at Swan Valley Regional Secondary School, where they attend hairstyling classes, shared their experiences. Genaille mentioned being more concerned about his sister, while Chartrand described being thrown from the bus during the accident.
The grandmother of Maytwayashing and Genaille, Tracey Campeau, expressed relief that the three students are expected to recover fully. Campeau emphasized the need for seatbelts on school buses in Manitoba after witnessing the aftermath of the crash. She mentioned that the students, despite being traumatized, are determined to graduate high school.
The RCMP investigation is ongoing, and charges have not been determined yet. The authorities are conducting interviews and analyzing the incident with the help of a traffic reconstructionist to decide on potential charges or offenses related to the crash.