Flags lowered, relatives brace for bad news as 15 elders die in Canada crash

Flags flew lowered in the Canadian province of Manitoba on Friday and relatives braced for bad news after 15 mainly elderly people died in one of the country’s worst recent road crashes.

Police have still not publicly identified any of the victims of the collision between a truck and a bus near the town of Carberry in southwestern Manitoba, 170 km (105 miles) west of Winnipeg. Most of them were elderly people heading to a casino.

Flags were lowered at the provincial legislature in Winnipeg and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the flag on top of the tallest building at the national Parliament in Ottawa would be lowered as well.

“It’s a terrible, terrible thing that occurred, and our thoughts go out to the families that have been absolutely devastated by this news,” he told reporters in Montreal.

The small white bus carrying 25 mostly elderly people was burnt to a shell. It had been heading to a casino when the accident happened.

Ron Bretecher, whose parents were on the bus, told reporters his mother had survived the crash but his father was still unaccounted for.

“(My) family’s just basically waiting for word. … It’s just very difficult,” he said.

The victims were from the town of Dauphin, population 8,000, some 175 km (109 miles) north of Carberry.

“Literally, everybody in town knows somebody that was on that bus,” mayor David Bosiak told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. “It’s obviously extremely hard to be optimistic at this time … everything seems so dark and gloomy.”

Police and healthcare authorities are due to brief reporters separately on Friday.

The truck was operated by the Day & Ross hauling company. In a statement, Chairman William Doherty said the firm would be cooperating fully with the inquiry.

Police said they would be looking at videos taken by passersby and talking to witnesses. Both drivers survived the crash but have yet to speak to investigators.

The bus, heading south, was crossing the Trans-Canada highway when it collided with the truck, which was traveling east.

Nirmesh Vadera told the CBC he had been working at a nearby cafe when he went outside and saw a vehicle engulfed in flames.

“The fire was about 10 to 15 feet high and the smoke was almost 20, 30 feet high,” Vadera said.

The crash was the worst in Canada since 16 people died in April 2018 after a truck hit a bus transporting a junior hockey team on a rural road in neighboring Saskatchewan.

The inexperienced truck driver in that crash pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing death and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019.