‘Catastrophic’ brake failure, neglected repairs contributed to deadly Columbia Icefield crash, judge finds
A judge has found that a 2020 fatal rollover of an Ice Explorer vehicle in Jasper National Park was caused by neglected maintenance and brake failure. The report calls for significant safety improvements by the tour operator, Pursuit, following the deaths of three passengers.
Why it matters
The findings hold a major tourism operator accountable for safety lapses and highlight the importance of rigorous maintenance for specialized transport vehicles.
In a report made public late last week, Judge Vaughn Myers of the Alberta Court of Justice details a string of catastrophic oversights that preceded the rollover that killed three passengers and severely injured 14.
It was the afternoon of July 18, 2020, when a heavy-duty vehicle known as an Ice Explorer — carrying 24 tourists across the scenic expanse of the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park — tumbled down a steep embankment, landing on its roof.
Dionne Durocher, 24, of North Battleford, Sask., Kamleshbhai Patel, 58, and Griva Patel, 28, of Edmonton, were ejected from the vehicle and died of their injuries within minutes.
In his findings , Myers calls on the tour company Pursuit — also known as Brewster — to make a series of safety improvements, concluding that warnings about the faltering safety of the vehicle went unheeded in the days and weeks before the crash.
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