2 arrested after bus crash leaves tens of thousands in dark south of Montreal

Hydro-Québec said the downing of a pair of critical power lines left some 88,000 households without electricity.

Two people were arrested after a bus slammed into an electrical transmission tower in a weekend crash that left thousands in the dark on Montreal’s south shore.

Longueuil police say the driver of the bus, a man in his 60s, is accused of dangerous driving causing injury.

The woman behind the wheel of the other car involved in the crash faces a charge of impaired driving, according to police. Her age was not disclosed.

Police said the bus, which was carrying volunteer firefighters from the Montérégie region, collided with the car before hitting the transmission tower at about 9:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Two people on the bus and another in the car were injured in the collision.

Hydro-Québec said the downing of a pair of critical power lines left some 88,000 households without electricity. At one point, police had to ask residents to stop flooding 911 with emergency calls about the situation.

The public utility managed to restore power to the majority of customers, with about 20o still in the dark as of late Sunday.

“It’s really an exceptional situation,” Hydro-Québec spokesperson Jonathan Côté said in an interview. “It’s the kind of thing that we almost never see.”