Four japanese tourists receive minor injuries
Maria Canton
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Jan 24/01) - A Northern Lights sightseeing outing ended with four Japanese tourists being sent to hospital after their tour van plowed into the ditch and turned on its side near the Yellowknife River at 4 a.m. Monday morning.
The group of 19 tourists were returning from their first visit to Raven Tours' aurora borealis viewing facility at Prelude Lake when the vehicle went off the road. The clients had only arrived in Yellowknife that evening. Raven Tours owner Bill Tait, who was in Vancouver when the accident occurred, said he was told the Ingraham Trail road was very icy on the weekend.
"Apparently the road was a skating rink that night," said Tait, before boarding a plane to return to the capital Monday night.
"Of course the clients were shaken up, but we have standard emergency procedures that were followed by our customer service department, operations department and guide manager." This is Raven Tours first accident in the company's 11-year history. Tait says the company, which attracts some 8,000 tourists to the area every winter, will be conducting an internal investigation into the matter.
"We'll be reviewing our safety and emergency procedures and our operator's manual," he said.
On any given night of the aurora viewing season, Raven Tours has up to 20 tour vans shuttling clients back and forth between Yellowknife and the viewing lodge.
A Stanton Regional Hospital spokesperson said that all four people brought into the emergency room in the early morning hours were released Monday by noon. RCMP say they are investigating the accident.
