Canada mourns after deadly collision involving youth hockey team

By Christopher Wells

At least fourteen people were killed when a semi-trailer crashed into a bus carrying a youth hockey team in Canada on Friday.

Fifteen other people injured in the accident, including three in critical condition, were taken to local hospitals.

The bus was carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team to a playoff game in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The team is part of a league open to players aged 16-20.

Community leaders from Canada and around the world offered words of support to grieving family members. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent out a Tweet late Friday, saying, “I cannot imagine what these parents are going through, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy, in the Humboldt community and beyond.”

Community offers prayers and support
 

Speaking with Vatican News, the Bishop of Saskatoon, Mark Hagemoen, whose diocese includes Humboldt, said that although “we don’t know why tragedy happens,” we know “Who holds us through tragedy.” It is a reality, he continued, that we confront very much during the Easter Triduum, which has just concluded.

Bishop Hagemoen praised the community for “rallying around family members and friends, and holding people in prayer and support.”

On Sunday evening, an ecumenical prayer vigil is set to take place in the hockey arena in Humboldt. “When something like this happens, it’s devastating,” Bishop Hagemoen said. “You want to do more, but giving it to the Lord, and asking Him to bless us and have His spirit, and lead us through this… this… desert, at a time of real crisis, is all we can do, and community means everything.”