SaskTel’s Field Service Technicians (FSTs) will tell you that for them, every day looks a little different.

But as FSTs Darrick Zaba and Ryan Lamb set out on what they thought was a normal Wednesday, little did they know they would run into a situation they would remember forever and for always.

On November 8, 2023, a tour bus carrying members of Shania Twain’s concert production crew was involved in a rollover near Wolseley. The bus was on the way to Saskatoon where Shania was slated to perform a sold-out show the next day. While Shania was not on the bus, 13 members of her crew received non-life-threatening injuries in the incident.

“It was about 7 a.m. and we were heading the Trans-Canada Highway to Wolseley for a job,” said Darrick. “There was a bit of an ice storm the previous night, and along the way we saw a chartered bus that had rolled on to its side. There were people standing on top of the bus so we thought we should pull over and give them a hand.”

“Thank God we had the work truck there as we (Darrick, Ryan and the first responders who had arrived on the scene) needed to use the ladders to help the people get off the top (side) of the bus. The rest of the passengers were still inside the bus, and we helped to pull people out.”

The bus was filled with bunk beds and the passengers were all sleeping when the bus rolled. A few of the passengers were stuck under the beds and debris which needed to be torn apart to free the passengers.

“It all happened so quickly, we really didn’t have time to think – it was all reaction,” said Ryan. “As you can imagine people were scared and a few were stuck pretty good, so we did our best to calm them down and help them to get out.”

As the scene unfolded, Darrick and Ryan slowly began to figure out that this bus was somehow related to the Shania Twain tour.

“Many of the passengers were wearing Shania Twain SWAG, so that was a big hint,” said Darrick. “However, there were also quite a few who were in their sleep attire still, so I was happy to give them a couple of jackets to stay warm.”

“Once everyone was safe, we also helped to find people’s bags and passports which were thrown throughout the bus.”

In almost 10 years with SaskTel, Darrick says he had never seen anything quite like this.

“I put a lot of miles on in a day, covering from Grenfell to the Manitoba border most days and get to see lots of things, but yes this was something else.”

“I am glad we were there - it feels good to help out and give someone a hand when they need it.” Ryan agrees.

“I travel from Indian Head to Grenfell every morning for work and I am on the road all day, so you never know what to expect,” he said. “Approaching this scene, it looked pretty bad, so it was a relief to know no one was seriously hurt. It was a crazy morning, but I was very glad that I could help.”

For the efforts of everyone who helped in this situation, Shania herself issued a statement of appreciation saying that the local community and her crew had been “phenomenal in the face of a very scary scenario.”