At least 15 people died and ten were injured this Thursday in Canada, after a collision between a bus carrying mainly the elderly and a truck in the province of Manitoba, Canadian authorities reported.
Rob Hill, commander of the Manitoba Mounted Police, said the bus was carrying 25 people and authorities had mobilized all their provincial resources to the scene.
Ten people were taken to hospitals, he added, quoted by the Associated Press (AP) agency, and warned that the death toll could still rise.
The two vehicles collided at the intersection of two highways around noon (5:00 p.m. in Portugal) in Carberry, which is 170 kilometers west of the Manitoba capital, Winnipeg.
Both drivers are alive and were taken to the hospital, Manitoba police officer Rob Lasson added.
“This is a large and very complex investigation. We must be aware that there may be criminal acts. We cannot give more details at this time,” added the same source.
Television stations broadcast images of a large bus smoking in a ditch next to a haul truck with its front end destroyed.
“It was very, very surreal to see the magnitude of the accident. I had never seen anything like it,” Nirmesh Vadera, who arrived at the crash site shortly after it happened, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Police asked drivers to avoid the area and allow emergency vehicles to pass.
“The news from Carberry, Manitoba is incredibly tragic. I send my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones and keep those injured in my thoughts,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said she was “heartbroken to hear the news of the tragic accident near Carberry”, and sent “the deepest condolences to everyone involved”.
The accident is similar to the 2018 bus crash in neighboring Saskatchewan that killed 16 people on an ice hockey team.
Source: TSF
