Lasson said the bus was heading south and there would have been a stop and yield sign. He said the bus was crossing the eastbound lanes when it was struck by the truck that was going east, adding that who had the right of way is critical to the investigation.
“The public is reeling and asking a lot of questions and people are trying to determine if their loved ones were involved,” Lasson said. “Death on this scale is never normalized for us.”
The crash scene was in Carberry, a city 170 kilometres (105 miles) west of Manitoba’s capital of Winnipeg.
“The news from Carberry, Manitoba is incredibly tragic,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. “I’m sending my deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones today, and I’m keeping the injured in my thoughts.”
A family support centre has been set up at a Lutheran Church in Dauphin, Manitoba for relatives. Police said the people on the bus were from Dauphin and the areas around it.
Flags have been lowered to half-mast at the Manitoba legislature.
Barbara Czech, a spokesperson for Sand Hills Casino in Carberry, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation the bus carrying the seniors was en route to the casino.
Kim Armstrong, the administrator of the Dauphin senior centre, said the bus left from there Thursday morning.
The senior community is extremely tight knit in the city of around 8,600 people and the centre is sometimes like a second home, she said.
“It’s huge to lose so many individuals of our community and of course it is shocking. We just pray for those that are surviving,” she said.
Armstrong said seniors and community members often go on trips on buses to nearby events or casinos.
Nirmesh Vadera, who was working at a business on the side of the highway when the crash happened, said he went outside and saw a transport truck with a smashed engine on the highway. The bus was on fire in the grass on the side of the road. First responders were trying to get people out of the burning vehicle, he said.
“It was burning and all the (firefighters) and medical help and everybody was trying to get them away from the fire,” he said.
The crash brought back memories of the 2018 bus crash in the neighbouring province of Saskatchewan that killed 16 people from the Humboldt Broncos minor league hockey team. Lasson said investigators in that crash are assisting.
“Sadly this is a day in Manitoba and across Canada that will be remembered as one of tragedy and incredible sadness,” said Hill, the RCMP commanding officer.
- AP
