Death toll now up to 15. 
I can’t believe ANYONE survived that crash, including the truck driver who apparently had only minor injuries. Just curious: does anyone here recognize what (most likely) he was hauling? The packages look relatively lightweight.
It was heartbreaking to look at that team picture, knowing that all of them are dead or severely injured.
What a terrible, terrible shame. May the Good Lord bless and keep the souls of those who died, and may those who lost loved ones be comforted in their grief.
The accident wreckage is on the NW corner, so the two vehicles were presumably traveling northbound on 35, and westbound on 335. There are stop signs controlling E-W traffic on 335 visible in various footage, but I don’t think there are any stop signs on 35.
aerial footage:
There is wooded area on the SE corner of the junction. That probably means that vehicles approaching the junction from the S and E cannot see one another. I would say that all it took was for the westbound vehicle to miss the stop sign.
The packages were apparently bundles of peat moss for a garden centre. That’s why they’ve scattered so much - they’re pretty light-weight.
More footage of the junction here, showing how big the trees are on the SE corner of that junction.
The team bus was north-bound to Nipawin. The semi must have been westbound.
The wreckage is on the NW corner of the junction, with the truck oriented N-S, cab pointing S. That seems consistent with the truck entering the junction headed westbound and being struck in the mid/rear by the bus traveling northbound. The truck gets turned 90 degrees to point south as momentum carries all the wreckage NW.
It’s more difficult to envision how the truck could have been the northbound vehicle, based on the wreckage.
So it seems likely that for whatever reason the truck ran the stop sign, and was struck amidships by the front of the team bus. The trees on the SE corner meant that neither vehicle could see the other approaching the junction.
Here’s a CBC article showing the “Broncos” on both teams.
Broncos player from Lethbridge on life support to enable organ donation:
Logan Boulet, 21, originally listed as dead, but apparently still on life support to enable organ donation.
As I said earlier, and further confirmed by additional images, the front of the tractor-trailer seems almost completely undamaged, while the midsection of the trailer looks like it’s been rammed and warped by a major impact, and the whole front part of the bus is non-existent. It’s pretty clear that the truck didn’t run into anything, and certainly appears as if the bus hit the trailer as you describe.
Whether the truck ran the stop sign or was just slow in moving out, and whether visibility was a factor, are hard to say with the limited information available, but the above appears to be the basics of what happened. For causes and fault we’ll have to wait for the investigation. It doesn’t appear the the truck driver has been charged with anything, but that may just be lack of evidence at this point.
Well, the truck clearly failed to yield right of way. There’s absolutely no way the accident happens in the absence of that. There’s basically no way to hit/get hit while crossing a highway when you have a stop sign that doesn’t involve failure to yield right of way. That the truck driver hasn’t been charged with anything is, I would presume, the result of the RCMP not having decided yet whether this is essentially a basic moving violation with tragic consequences vs. criminal negligence causing death.
I’m not too sure about the relative mass of the two vehicles when the truck had a fairly light payload, but it looks like the wreckage is more W than N of the junction. In the pics here, the cab of the truck lies on 335 westbound:
Presumably the bus was moving northbound at some speed (why would it not be with right of way on a dead straight road), so I don’t think the position of the wreckage is consistent with the truck moving slowly, i.e. pulling away from a standing start. I think the truck must have carried some speed into the junction.
This tragedy sums up the canyon of difference between Canadian and American people perfectly.
I’ve worked with mass casualties before, and with triaging the patients and victims of those situations. I’ve never seen anything as selfless by the families as forgoing reports on their own child until everyone else is taken care of. The ones that I personally have witnessed seemed like every parent only gave a shit about their own kids.
A tragedy indeed.
Communities and groups and others are pulling together to get faraway parents and friends to the scene–I understand WestJet will be flying a charter of Albertans from Calgary to Saskatoon.
Elsewhere, the world of sports is showing their concern. The Blackhawks and Jets both replaced players’ names on their jerseys with the word “Broncos.” There was a moment of silence before the Blue Jays game in Texas, and starting Jays pitcher Marcus Strohman wrote “Humboldt Broncos SK” on his cap.
It’s certainly true that disasters bring out the best and worst in people, both in hospitals and in comments on messageboards. Do you have any view on how the hypothetical reaction of the British, Russians or Pakistanis might have measured up?
As an American, and an EMT who has spent time on scene at mass casualties, and also at hospitals in the aftermath of said events, I feel uniquely qualified to speak as to my experiences. They are vastly different than the links above.
I won’t speak about British or Russian reactions, as they’re immaterial to the thread.
If you wish to continue this hijack, open a Pit thread. Otherwise, perhaps you should just returned to the topic at hand, which is not me.
The fact that the hypothetical reactions of other nations is immaterial was obviously my point.
Why on earth did you feel it was relevant or appropriate to make some sweeping generalization about how selfish you think Americans are when their children may be injured or dead?
It’s not me you should be lecturing about hijacks and opening a Pit thread.
Well, Dad, if you’re done with your lecture, I’m going to continue my existence and perusing.
I noticed that the morning newscasts are no longer saying the truck t-boned the bus, they now saying that the two vehicles collided… which is probably a better way to report the accident before the investigation is done.