Flags have been lowered in the Canadian province of Manitoba and relatives are bracing for bad news after 15 mainly elderly people died in one of the country’s worst recent road crashes.
Police have not identified any of the victims of the collision between a truck and a bus near the town of Carberry in southwestern Manitoba, 170km west of Winnipeg.
Most were elderly people heading to a casino.
Ten people were injured in the crash, all of whom are hospitalised.
Some of them “are fighting for their lives, with loved ones at their side,” said Lanette Siragusa, who heads Manitoba’s healthcare agency.
Doctors said six people were suffering from severe injuries and some had been operated on.
Manitoba had “experienced one of the worst tragedies this province has ever seen,” Siragusa told a televised briefing.
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 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.
Bunches of flowers began to appear at the crash site on Friday morning.
The small white bus carrying 25 mostly elderly people was burnt to a shell.
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 8000, 175km 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 said they would be looking at videos taken by passers-by 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 travelling 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 2018 when a truck hit a bus transporting a junior hockey team in neighbouring Saskatchewan.