Toronto, June 16
A bus carrying seniors to a on line casino collided with a semi-trailer truck at a highway intersection in a rural a part of the Canadian province of Manitoba on Thursday, killing 15 individuals and injuring 10, police mentioned.
Rob Hill, Commanding Officer of the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police, mentioned the bus was carrying 25 individuals and authorities in Manitoba had been deploying all their assets to the scene. Ten individuals had been taken to hospitals.
TV broadcasters aired pictures of what seemed like a big van or bus smouldering in a ditch close to a transport truck with a smashed engine on a highway. The pavement was plagued by particles — damaged glass, a big bumper and what seemed like a strolling support. Seven blue and yellow tarps had been stretched out.
RCMP Supt Rob Lasson mentioned, “As of now, the drivers of each the bus and truck are alive and in hospital.” He didn’t say in the event that they had been among the many 10 listed as injured. The lifeless had been primarily seniors.
Lasson mentioned the bus was heading south and there would have been a cease and yield signal. He mentioned the bus was crossing the east-bound lanes when it was struck by the truck that was going east, including that who had the correct of means is essential to the investigation.
“The public is reeling and asking a lot of questions and people are trying to determine if their loved ones were involved,” Lasson mentioned.
The crash scene was in Carberry, a metropolis 170 kilometres west of Manitoba’s capital of Winnipeg.
“The news from Carberry, Manitoba ,is incredibly tragic,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. “I’m sending my deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones today, and I’m keeping the injured in my thoughts.”
A household assist centre has been arrange at a Lutheran Church in Dauphin, Manitoba, for kin. Police mentioned the individuals on the bus had been from Dauphin and the areas round it.
Flags have been lowered to half-mast on the Manitoba legislature.
A spokesperson for the Sand Hills Casino in Carberry mentioned the van had been scheduled to reach there later in the day.
Kim Armstrong, the administrator of the Dauphin senior centre, mentioned the bus left from the senior centre on Thursday morning.
The senior neighborhood is extraordinarily tightknit in the town of round 8,600 individuals and the centre is usually like a second dwelling, she mentioned.
Armstrong mentioned seniors and neighborhood members typically go on journeys on buses to close by occasions or casinos.
The truck firm mentioned in a press release it was heartbroken concerning the crash however had restricted particulars about what occurred.
“We will absolutely cooperate with the investigation and provide any help and assist that we will,” mentioned William Doherty, CEO of Day & Ross.
Nirmesh Vadera, who was working at a enterprise on the facet of the highway when the crash occurred, mentioned he went exterior and noticed a transport truck with a smashed engine on the highway. The bus was on fireplace in the grass on the facet of the highway. First responders had been making an attempt to get individuals out of the burning automobile, he mentioned.
“It was burning and all of the (firefighters) and medical assist and everyone was making an attempt to get them away from the fireplace,” he mentioned.
