Edmonton man recalls comforting victims of fatal tour bus rollover

Ahad Saheem and his friend were taking pictures and drinkingcold, clean water from the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Parkwhen they heard a loud noise behind them.

A red-and-white sightseeing bus with giant tires, just like theone the Edmonton men had taken to the Columbia Icefield less than 15minutes earlier last Saturday, had rolled down a rocky slope andlanded on its roof.

"Our bus driver started running down the glacier and he told usthat there had been an accident and we were stuck there for quite awhile. He said that we cannot go back yet," said Saheem, 21.

The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest non-polar icefieldsin the world and one of the most popular attractions in the CanadianRockies. It's about an hour's drive from the town of Jasper.

The driver told the group that paramedics were a long way awayand asked if anyone could help.

So Saheem and his friend,Prankur Gaur, volunteered.

WATCH | Witnesses describe helping victims of Alberta tour bus crash:

Eyewitnesses describe Columbia Icefield roll over

4 years ago

Duration 1:25

Three people are dead and 24 injured after a glacier sight-seeing bus rolled over near the Columbia Icefield in Alberta's Jasper National Park.

Providing first aid, comfort

The pair walked about 500 metres down the mountain to the crash scene. They said people were lying all around, andsome were badly injured.

"There were people with broken bones. There were people withspinal injuries."

Gaur, a nursing student, was providing first aid to as manypeople as possible, Saheem said.

"My role was to comfort all the injured people, people who werein pain."

Saheem said herecently joined the Army, but had not yettaken a first-aid course.

"Help is on the way," Saheem recalled telling the crashvictims. "Everything is going to be OK."

Saheem brought water to first responders and collected people'sbelongings, includingseveral shattered phones and cameras strewn about.

He said he helped some people who were well enough to walk backup the slope.

Three people died

Three people died in the crash, including Dionne Jocelyn Durocher, a 24-year-old woman from Canoe Narrows,Sask.; a 28-year-old woman from Edmonton and a 58-year-old man fromIndia.

The other 24 people on board, including the driver, were injured,some critically.

Saheem described seeing a young couple on the ground.

"The girl was in his arms and the girl was really, really hurt ... shepassed away in the guy's arms right in front of me," he said.

"We got a blanket and covered up her body."

Devon Ernest was on the bus that crashed with Durocher, hisgirlfriend of two years. Ernest has described placing a sweaterbeneath Durocherand cuddling with her after he knew she was gone.

Saheem said he also saw the 58-year-old man who died.

"He was alive at first, and I was there, but EMS didn't arrive soon enough and he passed away, too."

Cause of crash still unknown

The cause of the crash has not been determined, but RCMPsaid they haveruled out a rock slide.

Pursuit, the company that runs the Columbia Icefield tours, has saidthe buses don't have seatbelts because the vehicles are not approvedto drive on the highway and don't go faster than 40 km/h.

Pursuit offers a Columbia Icefield Adventure, which it bills as amust-do experience in the Canadian Rockies. Guests board the big-wheeledoff-road buses to drive onto the glacier, where they can get out towalk on the ice and fill their water bottles with the pure, coldrunoff.

The company has said its buses have moved more than 16 millionpeople, with no other major crashessince the vehicles startedbeing used in the early 1980s.

Saheem said he and Gaur have talked about how they ended up on thebus they did, and not the one that crashed.

He said Gaur told him: "Maybe God put us on that other busjust to go help out other people in need."

WATCH:Raw: Columbia Icefield bus recovery operation:

Raw: Columbia Icefield bus recovery operation

4 years ago

Duration 0:31

Crews work to recover a bus that rolled at Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park.