At least 14 people are dead after a crash between a tractor-trailer and a bus carrying a Canadian junior hockey league team, police said.
The deadly crash occurred around 5 p.m. Friday on Highway 35 in Saskatchewan, about 150 miles northeast of Saskatoon, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The bus was carrying members of the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey league team, on their way to the town of Nipawin for a game, the team said.
“While en route to Nipawin, the Broncos bus was involved in a terrible accident which has resulted in multiple fatalities and serious injuries,” the team confirmed Friday.
Early Saturday, police confirmed at least 14 other people were injured, three of them critically. There were 28 people on the Humboldt Broncos team bus, including the driver, at the time of the crash, police said.
Police did not release names of the deceased or injured, nor did they say how many were players or coaches. Police also did not release the condition of the truck driver.
The Broncos roster lists 24 players ranging in age from 16 to 21 years old, as well as three coaches. The junior league team is based in Humboldt, a small city about 120 miles south of Nipawin with a population of nearly 6,000 people.
Michelle Straschnitzki told the Associated Press her 18-year-old son Ryan was among the Broncos players taken to a hospital in Saskatoon.
“We talked to him, but he said he couldn’t feel his lower extremities so I don’t know what’s going on,” Straschnitzki told the AP. “I am freaking out. I am so sad for all of the teammates, and I am losing my mind.”
Broncos president Kevin Garinger described it as “one of the hardest days of my life.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are extended to the families of our staff and athletes as well as to all who have been impacted by this horrible tragedy,” Garinger said statement. “Our Broncos family is in shock as we try to come to grips with our incredible loss.”
Though the team had been traveling to an away game, as word spread of the accident, dozens of Humboldt residents gathered at the Broncos’ home ice rink to wait for news and take solace in the community, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.
“There’s people, just sitting in the stands, stunned. They didn’t know what to do,” Humboldt Mayor Rob Muench told the newspaper. “It’s a tragedy not only for Humboldt, but for hockey all over [Canada]. A number of the players were from communities in surrounding provinces and across the country. It is a very, very hard thing to take.”
Several professional hockey teams and Canadian officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also offered condolences.
The Broncos had been scheduled to play against the Nipawin Hawks in the semifinals of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs. The Hawks announced Friday night that the game had been canceled.
Tonight’s game is Cancelled. The accident being talked about involved Humboldt team bus. We ask during this time that you don’t send messages. When more information is given we will update.
Posted by Nipawin Hawks on Friday, April 6, 2018
On Friday night, more than a hundred people packed the Apostolic Church in Nipawin — including family members of Broncos players who had been on the bus — awaiting word from the accident, the Globe and Mail reported.
“Lots of them are waiting for information,” pastor Jordan Gadsby told the newspaper. “Some of the families have gotten information and have gone to be with their kids. Some of them are waiting to hear if their kids are alive.”
Nipawin Hawks president Darren Opp told local reporters that members of his team were also standing by waiting to help, and that he had received at least 50 phone calls offering the same.
“There’s uncles and moms and dads waiting to hear whether their sons and nephews are okay,” he said. “It’s terrible. It’s absolutely terrible.”
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MOSCOW — Some of Russia’s richest and most influential people were hit with sanctions Friday by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
In total, 24 Russian officials and tycoons face new restrictions while a dozen companies were targeted as Washington stepped up its condemnation of Russia’s actions in recent years, including its 2014 annexation of Crimea, support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, hacking attacks and meddling in Western elections.
A look at some of those targeted by the new U.S. sanctions:
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OLIGARCHS
- Kirill Shamalov: At 36, he is Russia’s youngest billionaire and reportedly married to President Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova. The Treasury Department states directly that he is Putin’s son-in-law, although the Kremlin has never acknowledged that Tikhonova is Putin’s younger daughter. Media reports earlier this year said the couple had split. In 2014, Shamalov acquired a large share of Russian petrochemical company Sibur, later selling most of his stake for an undisclosed sum. Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $1.4 billion.
- Igor Rotenberg: He is the 44-year-old son of billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, Putin’s friend since both started practicing judo as teenagers in the 1960s. He began his career as a partner of his father and later came to control the oil and gas exploration company Gazprom Burenie and an operator of a nationwide toll system for heavy trucks. Forbes estimated his wealth at over $1.1 billion.
- Oleg Deripaska: The metals tycoon controls a business empire with assets in aluminum, energy and construction and is worth $5.3 billion, according to Forbes. Deripaska, 55, figured in the Russia investigation over his ties to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who once worked as his consultant.
- Viktor Vekselberg: The magnate built his fortune, currently estimated by Forbes at $14.6 billion, by investing in aluminum and oil industries. More recently, he has expanded his assets to include industrial equipment and high technologies. Vekselberg, 60, also gained notoriety in 2004 by buying the world’s largest private collection of imperial Faberge eggs — nine in total — and bringing it back to Russia.
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OFFICIALS
- Andrei Kostin: He heads Russia’s second-largest bank, VTB, which is majority-owned by the state and plays a pivotal role in the Russian economy. Kostin, 61, is part of the Kremlin elite and is involved in making key economic decisions.
- Alexei Miller: The CEO of Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled natural gas giant, is a longtime associate of Putin’s. Miller, 56, has played a key role in spearheading Gazprom’s expansion, including its booming gas sales to Europe.
- Nikolai Patrushev: The KGB veteran is the secretary of the presidential Security Council, a body that includes Cabinet members and chiefs of intelligence agencies. Patrushev, 66, known for his hawkish anti-Western stance, has been involved in preparing key foreign policy decisions and is believed to be one of Putin’s closest and most influential advisers.
- Viktor Zolotov: He began his career as a KGB bodyguard in the 1970s and served as the chief of the presidential security service for 13 years from 2000. Zolotov, 64, is another powerful representative of Kremlin hawks. As the National Guard chief, he commands a force that numbers hundreds of thousands of troops.
- Alexei Dyumin: He served as Putin’s chief security guard and assistant before being promoted to lead the Russian military’s special operations forces. In 2014, he oversaw the annexation of Crimea and the following year became a deputy defense minister. Since his 2016 appointment as governor of the Tula region, Dyumin, 45, has received unusually prominent coverage by state media, fueling speculation Putin is grooming him as a possible successor.
- Yevgeny Shkolov: He reportedly has known Putin since the 1980s when they worked together as KGB officers in Dresden, East Germany. In 2012, Putin named Shkolov to a key Kremlin position overseeing personnel and later put him in charge of anti-corruption efforts. Shkolov, 62, has kept a low profile but is believed to be close to Putin.
- Vladimir Kolokoltsev: A career police officer, he became Russia’s interior minister in charge of the entire national police force in 2012. Kolokoltsev, 56, is considered to be a good professional who doesn’t have much political clout.
- Mikhail Fradkov: Now 67, he began his career as a Soviet foreign trade official and then held a succession of government jobs, serving as prime minister from 2004 to 2007 during Putin’s second presidential term. For the following decade, he headed Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the KGB successor agency dealing with spying abroad. In 2017, he was given an honorary position at the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, a government-funded think tank that was reportedly involved in Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
- Alexander Zharov: The 53-year-old head of Roskomnadzor, the state communications oversight agency, has directed its efforts to shut down some online media and other resources critical of the Kremlin, but he’s not perceived as someone who wields any political influence.
- Konstantin Kosachev: He is a 55-year-old career diplomat who held various Foreign Ministry positions until his election to parliament in 1999. As the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, Kosachev has actively promoted the Kremlin foreign policy agenda, but like other members of the rubber-stamp parliament he’s not seen as close to decision-making.
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COMPANIES
The U.S. list includes several companies owned and controlled by Deripaska, including Basic Element Limited and EN+ Group, which is registered in Jersey. The list also includes companies controlled by Shamalov, Rotenberg and Vekselberg. In addition, the sanctions target the state-controlled arms trader, Rosoboronexport, and the Russian Financial Corporation Bank owned by it.
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