15 dead after bus crash involving Canadian junior hockey team

Police initially said 14 people had died and at least 14 people were injured as a result of the crash, but later raised the number dead to 15 when another person died on Saturday.

The bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos, a team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, was hit around 5 p.m. on Friday. None of the killed individuals have been named by police yet.

“We can now confirm fourteen people have died as a result of this collision,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said early Saturday. “The other fourteen people were sent to hospitals with a variety of injuries; three of these people have injuries that are critical in nature.”

The Broncos were on the way to play in Game 5 of a semifinal round against the Nipawin Hawks, another team in Saskatchewan.

“It’s one of the hardest days of my life,” said Kevin Garinger, Humboldt’s team president. “There have been multiple fatalities. Our whole community is in shock, we are grieving, and we will continue to grieve throughout this ordeal as we try to work toward supporting each other.”

A father of one of the players, Derek Patter, tweeted out a photo of some of the players in the hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where some of the injured were taken.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reacted to the news late Friday, calling it a “terrible tragedy.”

President Trump later tweeted to say he spoke with Trudeau to “pay my highest respect and condolences to the families of the terrible Humboldt Team tragedy. May God be with them all!”