3 dead, at least 16 injured in fiery chain-reaction crash involving 2 Calgary transit busses

Three people are dead and at least 16 others were injured in a fiery collision involving eight vehicles, including two City of Calgary busses.

The mass casualty event that left 19 people dead or hurt happened just after 1 p.m. in the city’s northeast.

Staff Sgt. Andy Woodward with the Calgary Police Service said it was a chain reaction of crashes along the 800 block of Saddletowne Circle N.E.

“One of the buses was travelling along Saddletowne Circle, collided with a white vehicle, which then collided with a black vehicle and then it ended up colliding with the cube van,” Woodward said.

“(It) then carried on down and hit the bus that caught fire that was static at the bus stop. That bus then went across the road into two other vehicles.”

Passenger vehicles damaged on Saddletowne Circle at 80 Ave NE, where a Calgary Transit bus caught fire on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026.

Woodward said in his 36 years in policing, it was perhaps the biggest collision scene he’d ever responded to.

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Images and video posted online showed flames and thick, black smoke shooting from the roof of one bus and the front of a second bus.

One of the buses was fueled by liquid natural gas. A large, fierce fire began shooting from the top of the bus after it came to a stop.

Three people on the bus that caught fire were killed, police said.

Of the 19 injured, 10 were taken to hospital, including one person with “life-altering” injuries and one with serious injuries. Officials said one of the bus drivers was amongst those seriously hurt.

“On top of those, there was five non-life-threatening ‘walking wounded,’ as we would call them. They were cleared at the scene and taken to hospital for further assessment,” said Emergency Health Services Alberta public information officer Adam Loria.

A Calgary Police Service officer was also hurt responding to the emergency.

“Early indications is that she ran out towards the bus when she saw the fire,” Woodward said. “As she approached the bus, we believe that the fire spread and then the explosion took place.”

Police said the officer suffered minor injuries from the blast and was taken to hospital.

Around 1:30 p.m., police said the intersection of Saddletowne Circle and 80 Ave NE in northeast Calgary was closed.

As of Thursday afternoon, the cause of the crash was not yet known.

“Our collision reconstruction have obviously arrived at the scene and they will try and piece together exactly what’s occurred,” Woodward said.

The crash happened near a fire and police station, as well as a strip mall equipped with security cameras.

“Video footage is being collected as we speak — a lot of the shops here have also got video footage, so we’ll be looking into that as well as part of our investigation.”

When speaking to reporters at city hall earlier on Thursday afternoon, Mayor Jeromy Farkas extended his sympathy to the victims.

The mayor deferred all other questions to police and fire officials.

All access to Saddletowne Circle will be closed for a significant amount of time and police asked drivers to please avoid the area.

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