Winnipeg students unharmed in bus accident

Students from a Winnipeg private school were not hurt when the bus they were in lost control on Wednesday afternoon, hitting another vehicle and swerving into the front yard of a house.

Approximately 20 students from St. John's-Ravenscourt School were being transported homein the Beaver Bus Linesbus when the male driver collapsedin the vehicle near the intersection of Waverley Street and Mathers Avenue at around 4:30 p.m.

"As a result of the collapse, the bus was going slowly at the intersection. It hit the vehicle in front, veered off and ended up bumping into a house nearby," Steve Johnson, the head of school at St. John's-Ravenscourt, told CBC News.

Witnesses said the bus almost struck a pedestrian before it ended up in the front yard of the house. Johnson said the house was not damaged as a result of the incident.

The bus driver, an employee of Beaver Bus Lines, was taken to hospital. Johnson says he does not know the man's condition as of Wednesday evening.

"The students are all fine, there was nobody injured. All the students' parents were contacted immediately and the students all got home safely," Johnson said.

Counselling to be made available

Counselling will be made available to students who may be affected by the incident, Johnson said.

"The bus driver is actually someone they know very well," he said. "Most of our kids take the same bus most of their school career, so this is somebody that they know, someone who's part of the school family. So it's quite emotional right now for them."

Johnson said Beaver Bus Lines has been transporting St. John's-Ravenscourt students to and from the school for more than 40 years.

He praised the actions of older students aboard the bus, who took care of younger students until their parents arrived to pick them up.

"They just did a great job just being responsible teenagers, as kids can do when they need to in a crisis," he said.

Police closed off Waverley Street between Taylor and Grant for over an hour before it was reopened to traffic around 6 p.m.