14 dead as hockey team bus, truck collide in Canada

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – Fourteen people died when a bus carrying a junior hockey team collided with a truck in Canada’s Saskatchewan province, police confirmed Saturday.

Among the victims of the horrific accident, which occurred late Friday afternoon, was the head coach of the Humbolt Broncos team and a radio announcer who was to cover a playoff game between the Broncos and the Nipawin Hawks.

Another 15 were injured. All of the hockey players were 20 years old or younger.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered his condolences in a post on Twitter a few hours after news of the catastrophe spread.

“I cannot imagine what these parents are going through, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humbolt community and beyond,” he tweeted.

Humbolt is a small town of less than 6,000 people, so the loss of the Broncos players would touch every resident. Nipawin, where the game was to have been played, is another small community of 4,000 about a two-hour drive away from Humbolt.

Dr. Hassan Masri, a critical care physician at the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon where the casualties were taken, wrote on Facebook Saturday that it was his most horrific night as a doctor.

“Last night can only be described as the longest, worst and most tragic night of my career,” Masri wrote. “The images can’t be unseen or forgotten, the stories can’t be unheard or ignored.”

As word of the tragedy spread around Humbolt, many residents gathered at the hockey arena and sobs could be heard as news trickled in as to the identity of those killed. Others congregated at a local church.

Kevin Henry, who runs a hockey training school in Prince Albert, said he knew several of the players.

“All these young men and boys,” he said. “We send our kids to play hockey. It is sort of every parent’s worst nightmare. 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.”

Hockey is Canada’s national sport, and nowhere is it more popular than in the small communities that dot the wheat fields in Saskatchewan, where only 1.13 million people live in the 652,000-square-kilometer province.

A mere 13 hours after a GoFundMe page was created to raise money for families affected, donations were at C$337,267.

Police are investigating and have not yet released information on how the accident occurred.