Canada mourns 15 killed in hockey bus crash

HHUMBOLDT: Canada: A shocked Canada was in mourning Saturday after a bus carrying a junior ice hockey team collided with a semi-trailer truck in Saskatchewan province, killing 15 people.

In a country where love of the sport is almost a religion, the crash sparked an outpouring of grief among players and fans, while national political leaders and the head of the National Hockey League expressed their sympathies. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which said determining the cause of the accident would require some time, did not say how many of the victims were players or coaches of the Humboldt Broncos team, which hails from a town of 6,000 people. Police said that there had been 29 people on board the team bus, including the driver, and 14 were injured, including some in critical condition. “An entire country is in shock and mourning today,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “We are heartbroken knowing many of those we lost had their entire lives in front of them... This is every parent’s worst nightmare. No one should ever have to see their child leave to play sport they love and never come back.” Tom Straschnitzki told CBC News that his son Ryan was among the injured. “He remembers he was in the middle of the bus and then he remembers waking up when the paramedics took him off the bus,” said Straschnitzki, whose son suffered a severe back injury.