Canada shaken as 14 killed in hockey bus crash

NIPAWIN, Canada: Hockey-mad Canada was in mourning on Saturday after a bus carrying a junior ice hockey team collided with a semi-trailer truck in Saskatchewan province, killing 14 people.

In a country where love of the sport is almost a religion, the crash sparked an outpouring of grief among players and fans on social media, while national political leaders expressed their sympathies. "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 how many of the victims were players or coaches of the Humboldt Broncos team.

Of the total 29 people on the team bus, including the driver, 15 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 team comprises 24 players, all from Canada, with the youngest aged 16 and the oldest 21. The crash took place at around 5:00 pm (2300 GMT) Friday on Highway 35 about 28 kilometres north of the town of Tisdale, a trading centre in an overwhelmingly agricultural region of the western province.

The team was heading north for a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League play-off game against the Nipawin Hawks.

Police gave no indication of the cause, but early Saturday special police investigators were still at the scene, which is roughly 150 kilometres east of Prince Albert City. The flat prairie around the crash site is covered with snow, traces of which can be seen on the ploughed roads.

Canadian media said the collision occurred near the junction with another highway. The Saskatchewan league is a feeder system for higher levels of hockey, with many graduating to play at US and Canadian colleges and major junior league level, while some go on to the National Hockey League (NHL). Similar leagues operate throughout the country, their buses a regular feature of the vast country´s highways.

Victims´ families, friends, and supporters of the team gathered at the Nipawin Apostolic Church hall for information and support.

"I´m here to help," said a sticker on one woman´s blouse. Another, wearing a Hawks sweatshirt, sat with a handful of others, their heads bowed. "It is a significant accident; we had a tractor trailer and a bus collide," RCMP Inspector Ted Monro told a press conference. The STARS Air Ambulance service said two of its helicopters flew to the scene.

There were a "high volume of incoming trauma cases" at Royal University Hospital and St. Paul´s Hospital, the Saskat chewan Health Authority said on Twitter. Both hospitals are located in Saskatoon city, about 250 kilometres from the crash site. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe re-tweeted a photo of one player who survived, Derek Patter, lying side-by-side with two other injured players on hospital beds, clasping each others´ hands in support. One of the young men appeared to be wearing a neck brace. "Saskatchewan, these are our boys," said Moe, the province´s top politician.