A massive landslide almost crushed a tour bus on a highway in Canada which will be a major thoroughfare for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Boulders the size of trucks fell onto the picturesque Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler in British Colombia just before midnight on Tuesday, narrowly missing a tourist bus with two people on board.

Police said no injuries were reported in the slide, but admitted they do not know if any vehicles were trapped under the debris, so heat sensing equipment will be used to survey the site.

Blasting may be needed to clear the estimated 16,000 cubic metres of rock said officials, and there were fears overhanging rocks were still unstable. It is expected to take up to five days to clear the road.

The bus, which was headed to Whistler, a major ski resort which is also popular in the summer, was travelling through the area when the driver heard the falling rocks. He managed to avoided the slide, but not before several windows on the vehicle were smashed.

Passenger Luis Araujo said they heard a “massive thumping sound” and then bus began shaking, followed by a hail of rocks that smashed the windows on one side of the bus.

"Fortunately the driver kept going, even though the whole thing was rocking," he told the Canadian news service CBC.

"We were so nervous we just laughed. We really just missed it by a few seconds. I can't believe I am alive, really."

The Sea to Sky highway is the only direct link between Vancouver and Whistler, where alpine skiing and several other events will be held during the 2010 Winter Olympics on Canada's Pacific Coast.

The highway is undergoing an upgrade costing nearly C$800 million ($782 million) in advance of the Games, but officials said there was no road work being done in the immediate area of the slide.

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