Owner of company involved in Humboldt crash charged

EDMONTON — The owner of an Alberta trucking company involved in the fatal Humboldt Broncos bus crash has been charged.

Alberta Transportation Minister Brian Mason says Sukhmander Singh of Adesh Deol Trucking is charged with noncompliance with federal and provincial safety regulations over a six-month period.

Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when a semitrailer and the Broncos team bus collided in Saskatchewan last April, when the junior hockey team was en route to a playoff game.

Officials with Alberta Transportation say eight charges have been laid.

A department spokesperson says a federal Crown lawyer will be handling the prosecution.

When reached in Calgary, Singh said he didn’t have any comment on the charges.

The charges include failure to maintain logs for driver’s hours of service, failure to monitor the compliance of a driver under safety regulations, having more than one daily log for any day and failure to have or follow a written safety program. “The charges follow an investigation that was completed by Alberta Transportation into the collision,” Mason said. “The investigation found multiple instances of noncompliance of various transportation regulatory requirements in a six-month period.”

Singh’s first court appearance is Nov. 9 in Calgary.