HOCKEY TEAM TRAGEDY
RCMP report fatalities and several injuries after a collision between a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos and semi.
Nipawin RCMP said SASKATOON there were several fatalities and a number of injuries after semi collided with a passenger bus carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team on Friday night.
At press time, police were unable to confirm the number of deaths.
The collision happened on Highway 35 about 30 kilometres north of Tisdale, near the junction of Highway 335, at what’s known as the Armley Corner.
Pastor Jordan Gadsby at the Apostolic Church in Nipawin welcomed any families to come to the church at 109 Fourth Avenue East on Friday night.
“We just opened our building here with food and drinks … they can come if they need somewhere to go or someone to talk to,” he said. “There’s not a lot of confirmed information at this point. Families are just waiting to hear from their kids.
“There’s a lot of tears.”
Myles Shumlanski, father of Broncos player Nick Shumlanski, said the crash happened at 4:45 p.m. He got a call from his son and they picked him up.
“It’s only a quarter-mile from our house. There are casualties and it’s very bad. We were at the scene helping,” Shumlanski said.
“It was a disaster,” he said. “We had a crane lifting the bus.”
Shumlanski said that his son is being flown to Saskatoon after receiving treatment at a hospital in Tisdale.
In Humboldt, Mayor Rob Muench said a mobile crisis centre had been set up at the city’s Uniplex Convention Centre. Muench said the centre had already started filling up with people, and that counsellors were being made available.
“We’re asking people to come down to the Uniplex, Jubilee Hall or the Elgar Peterson Arena just to show some support for the community and each other,” Muench said.
The Nipawin Hawks, which were supposed to meet the Broncos in Game 5 of their SJHL semifinal series on Friday night, said on Facebook the game was cancelled.
“The accident being talked about involved Humboldt team bus. We ask during this time that you don’t send messages. When more information is given we will update,” the Hawks posted on Friday evening.
Stars Air Ambulance tweeted that it had dispatched two of its units to “a scene emergency in the Ridgedale, SK area.”
Nipawin RCMP said in a news release at 6 p.m. that traffic is expected to be blocked or restricted for several hours.
“For those travelling in the area, please use extreme caution around emergency personnel. If at all possible, drivers are asked to avoid the area,” RCMP said.
Nipawin Journal reporter Susan McNeil, who was on the highway between Nipawin and the crash site, said many emergency vehicles responded to the crash.
“There’s emergency vehicles going back and forth, back and forth out here,” she said.
The WHL tweeted from its official Twitter page that it was keeping the Humboldt Broncos in its thoughts: “Hockey is family.”
The Saskatchewan Hockey Association also said its members would be sending a prayer to the Broncos team members.
“We ask all members of the SaskHockey community to join us in saying a prayer for the Humboldt Broncos team and their families.”