Post by Anthony (C2M) on Jan 12, 2008 12:28:03 GMT -5
A tradgic accident happened about 45 minutes away from my house. I have seen some of these kids about 3 weeks ago... I am there age so it was a shock to me.
Seven teammates from a high school basketball team and one adult were killed overnight after colliding with a transport truck near Bathurst, N.B., RCMP confirmed Saturday.
Cpl. Daniel Melanson told CTV Newsnet that seven male students, between the ages of 15 and 18 years old, and one adult woman were killed around midnight. All eight were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stephanie Brennan of local radio station CKBC-FM said the team, from Bathurst High School, was returning from a game in Moncton at the time of the crash.
"They were travelling back on Route 11 heading towards Bathurst. Just before the Miramichi Avenue exit, which is literally not five minutes outside of city limits, the driver of the vehicle lost control and collided with a truck," she told Newsnet.
The transport truck was heading southbound while the passenger van, which had 12 occupants, was northbound, Melanson said.
Three students and the team's coach, who is also a teacher at the local high school, were brought to the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst with non-life threatening injuries. Police say the driver of the transport truck was not injured in the crash.
Lydia Dupere from the Acadie Bathurst Health Authority said one of the survivors has been released from hospital, while one of the victims remains in critical condition and two others are said to be in stable condition.
Close to home
Brennan said the students' parents were waiting to pick up their children at a local McDonald's when the crash occurred.
"They (the team) were about 10 minutes away from reaching the McDonald's. The police did go to the McDonald's parking lot, asked the parents to come with them to the hospital and that's where they gave them the names of the students and teacher that had died and the students and the teacher that had survived," she said.
A police officer travelling toward Bathurst from the Tracadie-Sheila area discovered the transport truck off the road and called for a tow truck, Brennan said.
"As he walked closer, he saw the bodies of the students. Literally three rows from the passenger van were thrown, seat belts were ripped off, it was quite a scene up there this morning," she said.
Road conditions were said to be slippery overnight as snow started to fall in the Bathurst area on Friday afternoon.
"It changed to freezing rain and ice pellets yesterday evening. I was travelling myself on the roads last night and they were very treacherous," Brennan said.
"RCMP officers even took a longer time to get to the accident scene because road conditions were very slippery at the time."
Melanson said while a number of traffic fatalities have occurred on Route 11 in recent years, the weather conditions are likely to blame for this accident.
"We've had some fatalities, some serious accidents over the past couple of years but it was always different factors. I don't think the actual roads can be blamed at this point," he said.
The scene is currently being cleared and RCMP expects the stretch of highway to reopen within the next hour.
"Traffic analysts are still on the scene finishing up and road crews are cleaning up the debris as well," Melanson said.
The names of the victims and the transport driver have not been released.
Province grieves
New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham said he was informed of the crash early this morning.
"This is a very big tragedy for the affected community of Bathurst," Graham told CTV Newsnet from Ottawa on Saturday.
"Our government and the people of New Brunswick want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the families at this very difficult time."
Bathurst High School Superintendent John McLaughlin said students and the entire community is in a state of shock.
"I would say that (for) most students of high-school age, this is the first time they have dealt with loss and death and to think that it's of this magnitude, it's almost unspeakable," he told CTV Newsnet from Bathurst on Saturday.
Department of education officials, community leaders and grief counsellors gathered in the school gymnasium around 4 a.m. to set up a makeshift support centre for students and parents.
"We have a lot of teams that participate in school sports and if they are going to do that, then they are going to travel around the province. This is just absolutely everybody's worst nightmare," McLaughlin said.
A Facebook group "For the Boys in Red" was created early Saturday morning. The group had 160 members by 10 a.m. with fellow students posting condolence messages.
"This should have never happened. I kept thinking that this is all just a really bad dream and that I'm going to wake up from it any minute! But I'm not waking up," one student posted on the social networking website.
"Our school has lost some of the most amazing guys in the world no one will ever be able to replace them. We shall never forget about them."
Seven teammates from a high school basketball team and one adult were killed overnight after colliding with a transport truck near Bathurst, N.B., RCMP confirmed Saturday.
Cpl. Daniel Melanson told CTV Newsnet that seven male students, between the ages of 15 and 18 years old, and one adult woman were killed around midnight. All eight were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stephanie Brennan of local radio station CKBC-FM said the team, from Bathurst High School, was returning from a game in Moncton at the time of the crash.
"They were travelling back on Route 11 heading towards Bathurst. Just before the Miramichi Avenue exit, which is literally not five minutes outside of city limits, the driver of the vehicle lost control and collided with a truck," she told Newsnet.
The transport truck was heading southbound while the passenger van, which had 12 occupants, was northbound, Melanson said.
Three students and the team's coach, who is also a teacher at the local high school, were brought to the Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst with non-life threatening injuries. Police say the driver of the transport truck was not injured in the crash.
Lydia Dupere from the Acadie Bathurst Health Authority said one of the survivors has been released from hospital, while one of the victims remains in critical condition and two others are said to be in stable condition.
Close to home
Brennan said the students' parents were waiting to pick up their children at a local McDonald's when the crash occurred.
"They (the team) were about 10 minutes away from reaching the McDonald's. The police did go to the McDonald's parking lot, asked the parents to come with them to the hospital and that's where they gave them the names of the students and teacher that had died and the students and the teacher that had survived," she said.
A police officer travelling toward Bathurst from the Tracadie-Sheila area discovered the transport truck off the road and called for a tow truck, Brennan said.
"As he walked closer, he saw the bodies of the students. Literally three rows from the passenger van were thrown, seat belts were ripped off, it was quite a scene up there this morning," she said.
Road conditions were said to be slippery overnight as snow started to fall in the Bathurst area on Friday afternoon.
"It changed to freezing rain and ice pellets yesterday evening. I was travelling myself on the roads last night and they were very treacherous," Brennan said.
"RCMP officers even took a longer time to get to the accident scene because road conditions were very slippery at the time."
Melanson said while a number of traffic fatalities have occurred on Route 11 in recent years, the weather conditions are likely to blame for this accident.
"We've had some fatalities, some serious accidents over the past couple of years but it was always different factors. I don't think the actual roads can be blamed at this point," he said.
The scene is currently being cleared and RCMP expects the stretch of highway to reopen within the next hour.
"Traffic analysts are still on the scene finishing up and road crews are cleaning up the debris as well," Melanson said.
The names of the victims and the transport driver have not been released.
Province grieves
New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham said he was informed of the crash early this morning.
"This is a very big tragedy for the affected community of Bathurst," Graham told CTV Newsnet from Ottawa on Saturday.
"Our government and the people of New Brunswick want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the families at this very difficult time."
Bathurst High School Superintendent John McLaughlin said students and the entire community is in a state of shock.
"I would say that (for) most students of high-school age, this is the first time they have dealt with loss and death and to think that it's of this magnitude, it's almost unspeakable," he told CTV Newsnet from Bathurst on Saturday.
Department of education officials, community leaders and grief counsellors gathered in the school gymnasium around 4 a.m. to set up a makeshift support centre for students and parents.
"We have a lot of teams that participate in school sports and if they are going to do that, then they are going to travel around the province. This is just absolutely everybody's worst nightmare," McLaughlin said.
A Facebook group "For the Boys in Red" was created early Saturday morning. The group had 160 members by 10 a.m. with fellow students posting condolence messages.
"This should have never happened. I kept thinking that this is all just a really bad dream and that I'm going to wake up from it any minute! But I'm not waking up," one student posted on the social networking website.
"Our school has lost some of the most amazing guys in the world no one will ever be able to replace them. We shall never forget about them."
