Fourteen killed as junior ice hockey team bus hits lorry in rural Canada
CANADA was in mourning today after 14 people died as a bus carrying a teenage icehockey team collided with a truck in a rural part of the country.
The bus was carrying the Humboldt Broncos to a playoff game in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League when the crash happened.
It sent shock waves through a nation where ice hockey is a national sport. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman said there were 28 people on the bus, including the driver. Fourteen injured people were admitted to hospital, with three in a critical condition.
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, said: “I cannot imagine what these parents are going through. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humboldt community and beyond.”
Kevin Garinger, the Broncos’ team president, said: “Our Broncos family is in shock. We are grieving and we will continue to grieve.
“We don’t know who has passed and we don’t expect to know right away. We just need to try to support each other as we deal with this incredible loss to our community, to our province, to our hockey world.”
The Broncos were from the small city of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which has a population of 6,000. They were on their way to a game against the Nipawin Hawks.
Parents rushed to the scene, about 36 miles from the town of Nipawin. More than 100 relatives and friends gathered at the Nipawin Apostolic Church as they waited for news.