14 dead in Canada hockey bus crash

MONTREAL: Police in Canada confirmed on Saturday that 14 people died when a bus carrying a junior ice hockey team collided with a semi-trailer truck in rural Saskatchewan province.

"We can now confirm 14 people have died as a result of this collision," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement, which did not say whether the victims were players or coaches of the Humboldt Broncos team.

Of 28 people on the bus, including the driver, 14 others were taken to hospital with injuries.

"Three of these people have injuries that are critical in nature," the RCMP said.

They gave no information about the status of the truck driver. The crash took place at around 5:00 pm on Highway 35 about 28 kilometers north of the town of Tisdale, a trading center in an overwhelmingly agricultural region of the western province.