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6 vehicles crash on B.C.'s Coquihalla Highway

A multi-vehicle collision on B.C.'s Coquihalla Highway sent more than 20 people to hospital late Wednesday, but nobody was seriously injured.

The accident, which involved two semi-trailer trucks, a bus carrying seniors and three cars, happened at about 6:30 p.m. PT during a snowstorm near Kamloops.

Ben Mittelsteadt of the BC Ambulance Service said eight ambulances were initially dispatched to the scene on the mountain highway east of Vancouver.

Initial reports said five people had been critically injured, but officials now say there were no serious injuries.

Some of the injured were transported to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, about 15 kilometres north of the accident scene. Day staff were asked to stay on at the hospital and five other physicians were called in as space was cleared in the emergency room.

A Kamloops Fire Department spokesman said the bus, carrying as many as 35 seniors, was wedged against a semi-trailer, trapping passengers in the vehicle and that the jaws of life had to be used to create an opening in the bus.

Police said a vehicle slid on a curve, blocked the highway and caused a chain reaction.

As least one northbound lane on the route remained closed as of 6:30 a.m. PT while crew clear the vehicles.