No charges laid in 2002 Canada bus crash that left Sikh man dead

Toronto, Dec 29 (IANS) No charges will be filed in connection with a bus crash in Canada that left four people, including a 41-year-old Sikh, dead and many others injured on Christmas Eve last year. 

Karanjot Singh Sodhi from Butala in Amritsar, died on the spot when a bus in which he was travelling rolled over on an icy highway in British Columbia (B.C.) province at 6 pm on December 24, 2022.

Dan McLaughlin, a representative from the B.C. Prosecution Service, said Crown counsel concluded the standard for charges had not been met, the Global News TV channel reported.

For charges to be approved, there must be a “substantial likelihood of conviction” and public interest must be served, McLaughlin said last week.

“Crown Counsel must consider what material evidence is likely to be admissible … and whether there are viable defences, or other … impediments to the prosecution that remove any substantial likelihood of a conviction,” the prosecution service said in a statement.

The crash happened east of Merritt on Highway 97C, also known as the Okanagan Connector, and investigators believed the bus was occupied by 45 passengers at that time.

The British Columbia Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had said in a statement that "extremely icy" road conditions along the highway caused the bus, operated by Alberta-based Ebus, to rollover.

Shortly after the crash, 22 passengers were transported to Kelowna’s hospital, six to Penticton’s hospital and 13 to Merritt’s hospital. Four passengers, including Sodhi died at the scene.

Sodhi came to Canada on a work permit in September 2022, just three months before the accident, and was employed as a chef in a restaurant of an Okanagan winery.

On December 24, he was travelling in the ill-fated bus to spend the holidays with his cousin, Kalwinder Singh.

Kulwinder, a transport truck driver, told CBC News that he does not believe the accident was the driver's fault.

He said the highway should have been closed due to poor winter driving conditions and the driver should have refused to drive that night.

"The B.C. government did not clean the road properly... There is no good justice," Kulwinder told CBC.

Sodhi is survived by his mother, wife, and two children back home in Amritsar.

In an email to Global News, RCMP Staff Sergeant Kris Clark said that the B.C. Highway Patrol investigation had ended.

“As no charges have been laid, we are not in a position to confirm any details of the investigation, other than to say that road and weather conditions were contributing factors in the crash,” Clark said.

--IANS

mi/dan