On April 6, 2018, 16 people were killed and 13 were injured when a northbound coach bus was struck by a westbound semi-trailer truck that failed to stop at a flashing stop sign at the intersection of Saskatchewan Highways 35 and 335 near Armley, Saskatchewan, Canada, while driving at a speed of approximately 100 km/h (60 mph). Most of the deceased and injured were players from the Humboldt Broncos, a junior ice hockey team from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which plays in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL).
On July 6, 2018, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charged 29-year-old Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, the driver of the truck, with sixteen counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and thirteen counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily injury. In early 2019, Sidhu pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Sidhu, an immigrant from India, was scheduled to be deported on April 27, 2026, but the Federal Court granted a stay on April 24 pending his legal challenge to the deportation.
The crash prompted condolences from public figures and celebrities, along with vigils and tributes such as people leaving hockey sticks outside their doors. A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign set a national record by raising more than CA$15,000,000. The crash was the deadliest road accident in Canada since the 1997 Les Éboulements bus accident, which killed 44 people.
Background
Saskatchewan Highways 35 and 335 meet at a right-angle intersection near the village of Armley in the Rural Municipality of Connaught. The intersection is commonly known as "Armley Corner." Traffic on Highway 35, running north–south, has the right of way at the intersection and a speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph). Traffic on Highway 335, both westbound and eastbound, has a speed limit of 100 km/h dropping to 60 km/h (37 mph) at the intersection, which has stop signs with flashing red lights.
The signal lights were installed after a fatal traffic collision at the same intersection in 1997, in which six members of a family from British Columbia were killed. Six memorial crosses in the intersection's southeast corner commemorate those deaths. The coroner's report on the 1997 accident suggested "additional warning device approaching Highway 35 from the west, which could include rumble strips," but this was not implemented since the last crash had occurred in 1988.
From 2011 to 2015, Saskatchewan had 13.2 traffic deaths per 100,000 people, the highest rate of any province or territory in Canada and over double the national average.
Crash
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) collision report, the semi-trailer truck and the coach bus collided at the intersection of Highways 35 and 335 at about 5:00 p.m. CST on April 6, 2018. The truck, driven by Jaskirat Singh Sidhu and carrying two trailers loaded with peat, was travelling westbound on Highway 335 at between 86 and 96 km/h. The bus, carrying twenty-nine members of the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team, was travelling northbound on Highway 35 around 96–107 km/h. At the intersection of Highways 35 and 335, near Armley, Highway 335 traffic faces a stop sign, which is "oversized" at 1.2 metres across, attached to a post with a blinking red light immediately above it, and placed 19 metres ahead of the intersection. Sidhu failed to heed the stop sign, while the Broncos' bus was to be given the right of way. Sidhu's truck was completely blocking the intersection when the Broncos' bus slammed into the lead trailer.
Weather on the day of the crash had been clear and sunny, and nothing obscured Sidhu's view of the stop sign, according to the agreed statement of facts. The sun was not in Sidhu's eyes, the road was not affected by any inclement weather and the intersection was clearly visible before the collision. Sidhu also passed signs indicating that an intersection with a stop sign was ahead.
Sidhu was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol and was not distracted by a cellphone. Instead, he stated that he had been distracted by a tarp that had come loose. Glen Doerksen, the Broncos' bus driver, applied his brakes 24 metres before the intersection, but was unable to avoid the collision. The bus struck the truck's front trailer in a T-bone collision. The bus sustained massive damage, particularly at the front. The driver and 13 passengers were killed immediately. Two others died of their injuries in hospital.
One of the survivors described how the bus broadsided the semi-trailer truck, which was consistent with the photographic account of the incident. A father of one of the victims stated that they "pulled up and saw the front of the bus was gone", and that the normal seating plan on the bus would have been rookies in the front, veterans in the back. Survivor Kaleb Dahlgren recounted later that the bus had the 18-year-olds up front, 19-year-olds in the middle, and the 20-year-olds in the back. The force of the impact caused both vehicles to come to rest off the highway in the northwest corner, lying on their sides.
As part of the emergency response to the crash, Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) dispatched three helicopters to assist with transporting victims. Several of the injured were taken to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, about 250 km (160 mi) southwest of the crash. The truck driver was not injured in the crash. Photos show the semi-trailer's load of peat moss was strewn over the ground. Police detained and later released the truck driver. The RCMP stated that the driver was being provided with mental health and wellness assistance. The owner of the trucking company later confirmed that the truck driver was receiving psychological support since his release.
The team chaplain Sean Brandow arrived at the scene of the crash shortly after the collision and attempted to offer prayers and aid. Officers directed families of the team towards the Nipawin Apostolic Church, where family and friends gathered to wait. One father recounted: "You're at the church and most of the families are there. All the veterans' parents start getting phone calls, we got your boy, come to the hospital. You get a little deeper and at the end of the night it's mostly the rookies parents there ... And then of course the police had the conversation with us."
First responders
Two ambulance services, Tisdale Ambulance Care from Tisdale, SK, and North East EMS from Nipawin, SK, responded initially. Ambulances from Melfort, SK, and Carrot River, SK, were also brought in to assist. Medavie Health Services West also assisted with transporting patients from the nearby hospitals. Three helicopters and four air ambulance planes were loaned from various cities and companies (Saskatchewan Air Ambulance Service) to help transport the most critically wounded to the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, almost 270 km (170 mi) away. Due to the number of injuries, the hospital declared a Code Orange, indicating mass casualties were en route. The Saskatchewan Health Authority, which oversees hospitals and ambulance services in the province, has encouraged employees affected to access counselling available, as many of the first responders had ties to the crash. Jessica Brost, the paramedic manager of Nipawin's North East EMS, stated that the crash was "just too close to home, especially in Saskatchewan, where everyone is either a billet, obsessed with hockey, or the parent of a teenage hockey player".
Doug Lapchuk, president of the Saskatchewan Volunteer Firefighters Association, said his organization has sent peer counsellors to help members of the Nipawin and Tisdale fire departments who were involved in removing victims from the crash. A Tisdale crane operator was called to the scene of the crash to use his crane to hoist the roof of the bus to allow first responders to reach victims underneath it. He stated concern about the "poor first responders, them guys—they were the ones getting the people out of there, they were the ones making the decisions".
An estimated 80 first responders were on scene of the crash, with resources from Tisdale, Nipawin, Zenon Park, Carrot River, Melfort, and other locations dispatched to provide aid. An eyewitness who was waiting to turn at the intersection stated that her 911 call, placed moments after the incident, was responded to 15 minutes later by police.
Victims
According to the RCMP, the bus carried 29 people, including the driver. Fourteen died initially and 15 suffered injuries (three of them critically). Two of the critically injured later died in the hospital.
The RCMP stated that they would not be releasing the names of the dead until the families were notified, but the family of Broncos head coach and general manager, Darcy Haugan, confirmed on Twitter that Haugan was one of the 16 killed. Team captain Logan Schatz was also confirmed dead by his father. The bus driver, Glen Doerksen, and two radio-station employees, announcer Tyler Bieber and statistician Brody Hinz, died in the collision. Doerksen was a former board member for the Carrot River Outback Thunder hockey team, serving from 2006 to 2011 and a driver for Charlie's Charters, a Saskatchewan bus company. Four days after the crash, athletic therapist Dayna Brons, the only woman on the bus, died from head injuries sustained in the collision.
On April 8, it was discovered that one of the dead, Parker Tobin, had been misidentified by the coroner as Xavier LaBelle, who survived the crash. This was discovered after LaBelle reportedly woke up and identified himself. This prompted an apology from the coroner.
Investigation
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) planned a news conference about the investigation into the crash. According to a statement released April 18, 2018, Assistant Commissioner Curtis Zablocki, the Commanding Officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, would not announce any charges related to the crash. The RCMP planned to only answer general questions from the media about the collision. During the press conference, Zablocki stated that the truck driver was immediately taken into custody and released after the crash, and that the driver has been in constant contact with the RCMP. Under investigation are the engine computers for both vehicles, the drivers' logs, and the drivers' experience. It was also stated during the press conference that the truck driver was in the intersection at the time of collision, but Assistant Commissioner Zablocki said he could not comment on its speed when the crash took place.
The RCMP returned to the scene of the crash on April 19, 2018, to do additional analysis and testing with reconstructionists and officers. A police news release stated the investigators would be using vehicles similar to those involved in the collision to allow the reconstructionists to take further measurements and analyze sight lines. Previously, members of the RCMP had conducted more than 50 interviews with independent witnesses, the driver of the semi-trailer truck, the trucking company's owner, victims, and other individuals. Over 5,500 photos had been taken to document the scene and analyzed, along with imaging from 3D technology and drone usage.
Kelsey Fiddler, present at the intersection at the time of the crash, was identified as a key eyewitness. She stated in an interview she had to swing her vehicle away seconds before the crash to avoid being sandwiched by the two vehicles. Reportedly, she was waiting at the eastbound stop sign on Highway 335 to make the turn onto Highway 35 and saw the bus approaching in the northbound lane of Highway 35 at what seemed to her as "regular highway speed". Fiddler is also identified as one of the first callers to 9-1-1 in response to the crash.
Aftermath
Prince Philip and I were saddened to hear word of the crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost so much, with their families, and with all Canadians who grieve with them at this difficult time.
Numerous dignitaries and politicians in Canada expressed their condolences after the crash, including Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, and her husband, Prince Philip, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe, and Alberta premier Rachel Notley. US president Donald Trump phoned Trudeau and subsequently tweeted to offer his condolences to the victims and their families. Celebrities and other public figures such as Ellen DeGeneres, Drake and Whoopi Goldberg voiced their sympathy and condolences to those who were affected. Pope Francis also sent a message of condolences, which was read out by the Bishop of Saskatoon at a Sunday service two days after the accident.
The Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League expressed their condolences to the Humboldt Broncos organization, players and families. A group of survivors from the Swift Current Broncos bus crash in 1986, led by Sheldon Kennedy, headed to Humboldt to offer their support to the community and hockey team.