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Canada: 14 dead after Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team bus crash Canada: 14 dead after junior hockey team bus collides with truck
(about 7 hours later)
A crash between a transport truck and a bus carrying a junior hockey team in western Canada has left 14 people dead and others seriously injured, Canadian police said. The president of a junior hockey team involved in a major road crash in the rural Canadian province of Saskatchewan said his “whole community is in shock”, after police confirmed 14 people were killed and more than a dozen injured.
The bus was carrying the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan junior hockey league to the town of Nipawin for a playoff game. The Humboldt Broncos team bus collided with a semi-trailer on Highway 35 near Gronlid, more than 200km north-east of Saskatoon late on Friday afternoon. Police said 28 people were on the bus, including the driver. The team had been heading to a Saskatchewan junior hockey league game against the Nipawin Hawks, officials said.
“There have been multiple fatalities, our whole community is in shock,” said Kevin Garinger, the president of the Humboldt Broncos. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed on Saturday that 14 people had died and said: “The other 14 people were sent to hospital with a variety of injuries. Three of these people have injuries that are critical in nature.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there were 28 people on the bus when the crash happened on Friday afternoon. Fourteen of them were killed, including the driver, and the other 14 had been taken to hospital, three of them in critical condition. No names were released as police worked to notify families. Officials would not say if the dead included players – who hail from across Western Canada and range in age from 16 to 21 – or their coaches. There was no mention of the truck driver.
Garinger said parents were rushing to the scene as they struggled to cope with the tragedy. A photo tweeted early on Saturday showed three players lying in side-by-side in hospital beds, their hands clasped together. The caption said the three were “bonding and healing” in the hospital.
“It’s a horrible accident, my God,” said Darren Opp, the president of the Nipawin Hawks hockey team. “It’s very, very bad.” Derek Grayson and Nick bonding and healing in hospital pic.twitter.com/DzesIoT27B
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said on Twitter that he could not imagine what the parents were going through. “It’s one of the hardest days of my life,” Kevin Garinger, team president for the Broncos, told the Canadian Press. “There have been multiple fatalities our whole community is in shock, we are grieving and we will continue to grieve throughout this ordeal as we try to work toward supporting each other.”
I cannot imagine what these parents are going through, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humboldt community and beyond. https://t.co/2cIn2CTy08 He described the Broncos as a close-knit team well-known in the small community of 6,000 where they played. “This team has been an incredible rock in this community,” he said. “They are incredible young men, every one of them.”
Opp said the coaching staff and players from the Hawks are waiting to help. This is one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained
“They are sitting in the church just waiting to hear any good news,” he said. “There’s uncles and moms and dads waiting to hear whether their sons and nephews are OK.” Garinger had been billeting one of the players at his home and said he did not know the player’s fate. “We don’t know who has passed and we don’t expect to know right away,” he said. “We know that the coroner and their office needs to do their work and let families know.”
The bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos has been involved in a serious crash with an 18-wheeler enroute to their game against the Nipawin Hawks. RCMP has confirmed that there have been casualties, but are unable to give details at this time. #PrayersForHumboldt pic.twitter.com/d3NsUlDPeN Reports of the crash sent parents from across western Canada rushing to the scene, fearing the worst. In Humboldt, an arena was hastily turned into a mobile crisis unit.
Pastor Jordan Gadsby at the Apostolic Church in Nipawin said more than 100 people had gathered at the church. “Some of them are waiting to hear if their kids are alive.” Michelle Straschnitzki, the mother of an 18-year-old player on the team, said her son Ryan had been taken to a hospital in Saskatoon. “We talked to him but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the team-mates and I am losing my mind.”
Garinger, who has one of the players living in his home, said they still do not know his fate. Darren Opp, the president of the Nipawin team, said parents, coaching staff and players had gathered in a local church. “It’s a horrible accident, my God,” he said. “It’s very, very bad. There’s uncles and moms and dads waiting to hear whether their sons and nephews are OK.”
“We don’t know who has passed and we don’t expect to know right away,” he said. “We know that the coroner and their office need to do their work and let families know.” Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert and knows players on the Humboldt team, said the crash had left people reeling.
Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, said people were in shock. “It is sort of every parent’s worst nightmare. “It is sort of every parent’s worst nightmare,” he said. “This is I would think one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here.”
“This is, I would think, one of the darkest days in the history of Saskatchewan, especially because hockey is so ingrained in how we grow up here,” he said. Condolences poured in from across Canada, from former hockey players, sports organisations and political leaders.
“I cannot imagine what these parents are going through, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humboldt community and beyond,” Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, wrote in a tweet late on Friday.
“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the families of our staff and athletes as well as to all who have been impacted by this horrible tragedy.”
Within hours of being launched, a fundraising campaign to help the players and families affected by the crash had raised more than C$220,000.
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