A dream vacation to the Dominican Republic turned into unimaginable tragedy for a Manitoba couple. Colleen Fullerton was killed in a devastating bus crash, leaving her husband, John, critically injured and their family reeling from shock.
The crash occurred in Cumayasa, as the Fullertons were travelling from Punta Cana to Santo Domingo. Their daughter, Amanda, received the heartbreaking news from her uncle, who was also on the bus and relayed the scene from his own hospital bed – a scene of blood and unconsciousness.
Colleen died instantly upon impact. John, however, remained alive, though in desperate need of spinal surgery and intensive care. The initial reports from local media indicated a far wider scope of devastation, with two fatalities and at least nineteen injuries reported among passengers ranging in age from 37 to 72.
Adding to the family’s anguish was a disturbing lack of communication. The Fullertons learned of the tragedy not from the travel companies involved, nor from Canadian authorities, but from a relative’s grim account.
Brittany Fullerton, the couple’s granddaughter, described a frantic search for information, a desperate attempt to understand what had happened to her grandparents. The family contacted local RCMP, who ultimately confirmed Colleen’s death, a confirmation they felt should have come from those responsible for their travel.
Days after the crash, the family remains in a painful limbo, struggling to ascertain John’s condition. Their uncle, also injured, has been unable to visit him, leaving them reliant on infrequent and hard-won updates from consulates and embassies.
“We’ve had to dig and claw information out of them,” Brittany explained, her voice thick with frustration. The family feels profoundly abandoned, believing they deserved more than silence in the face of such a profound loss.
Amanda expressed a simple, heartbreaking sentiment: “My mom was important enough to let us know that we’ve lost her.” The family’s grief is compounded by the feeling that Colleen and John were treated as mere statistics, their lives diminished by a lack of compassion and timely communication.
While the Fullertons have been assured that medical, burial, and travel costs will be covered, the financial reassurance offers little comfort in the face of their devastating loss and ongoing uncertainty. The family continues to fight for answers, hoping to bring John home and find some measure of peace amidst the wreckage of their dream vacation.
