Fourteen dead in horror bus smash

A crash involving a transport truck and a bus carrying a junior hockey team in Western Canada left multiple people dead and others seriously injured.

Canadian police said 14 people were killed, the BBC reported.

The bus was carrying the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League to the town of Nipawin for a playoff game. It collided with a transport truck yesterday afternoon (NZT).

Players were aged between 16 and 21, according to their team list.

‘‘There have been multiple fatalities – our whole community is in shock,’’ said Kevin Garinger, president of the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League.

Garinger said parents from across Western Canada were rushing to the scene as they struggle to cope with the tragedy.

‘‘It’s a horrible accident, my God,’’ said Darren Opp, president of the Nipawin Hawks hockey team. ‘‘It’s very, very bad.’’

Opp said a semi-trailer truck T-boned the players’ bus, adding that the coaching staff and players from the Hawks are waiting to help.

‘‘They are sitting in the church just waiting to hear any good news,’’ he said.

‘‘There’re uncles and mums and dads waiting to hear whether their sons and nephews are OK.’’

Pastor Jordan Gadsby at the Apostolic Church in Nipawin said more than 100 gathered at the church. ‘‘Some of them are waiting to hear if their kids are alive.’’ Gadsby said they knew there were multiple fatalities, but they had not heard how many.

Kevin Henry, a coach who runs a hockey school in Prince Albert, said people were in shock.

‘‘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,’’ Henry said.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a Junior ‘A’ hockey league under Hockey Canada, which is part of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. It’s open to North Americanborn players between the ages of 16 and 20.