A Loss of Basketball Team
Icy crash kills seven members of basketball team and one adult in N.B.
By Chris Morris, The Canadian Press
BATHURST, N.B.
A van carrying a high school boys' basketball team home from a game was only five minutes from waiting parents when it fish-tailed on a slippery highway and slammed into a tractor-trailer, killing seven players and one adult.
Emily Cleland, sister of victim Nathan Cleland, said some parents had gathered at a fast-food restaurant to pick up their children who were expected at about 11:30 p.m. in this small northern New Brunswick city.
But by midnight, when there was no sign of their white school van, families began to worry that something had gone wrong on the icy two-lane highway leading into Bathurst.
Their fears were confirmed moments later when they got a call telling them to go to a hospital because there had been an accident.
When they arrived, parents saw police and ambulances bringing in the four survivors.
"My parents had seen the first two boys come in - one with a broken arm and the other with broken ribs - so they figured they had brought in the worst-case scenarios first and they weren't really worried," Cleland, 18, said from the family home.
"And that's when they realized that the ambulances had stopped coming because the other ones had died on impact."
The Bathurst High Phantoms were returning from a game in Moncton, N.B., about 220 kilometres away, when the accident occurred on Highway 8 outside Bathurst shortly after midnight.
The force of the collision tore off the rear and a large piece of the passenger side of the large 15-seat van, and ejected benches and people everywhere. Hours later, the benches still lay strewn in snow smeared with blood and littered with bits of plastic, lunch bags, debris and surgical gloves.
"When members arrived at the scene, all eight were dead - there was nothing we could do," RCMP Sgt. Derek Strong said during a news conference later.
"This was a very, very major impact."
Strong said the road was icy at the time and the van's driver - a teacher at the school and also the team's coach - lost control. He survived but his wife, a teacher at another school who was supervising the team, was killed.
Strong said officers who went to the accident scene were shaken by what they saw.
"Police officers go to a lot of accident scenes but this one was above and beyond anything any of us are used to," he said.
Strong said it appears no one was at fault in the accident.
Twelve people were in the vehicle when it veered across the centre line and hit the truck. The van was equipped with seatbelts, but investigators didn't know if they were used.
Calls then went out to families only telling them of the crash, not whether their child had been hurt.
"My mother was notified by the police who told her to go to the hospital," said Carla Johnstone, whose 17-year-old brother Javier Acevedo was killed.
"They sat her down and told her when they reached the scene of the accident he was the first body they saw and there was no sign of life. She had to identify the body at the morgue."
Johnstone, 23, said Acevedo had called his mom about 15 minutes before the accident to let her know he was on his way back after the game, which the Phantoms lost 75 to 65 to Moncton High School.
"He said, 'I'm OK, we're on our way, we're in Miramichi.'... He said he was coming home and not to worry."
Lydia Dupere, a spokeswoman for the Acadie-Bathurst Health Authority, said three people were still in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A fourth person had been treated for injuries and released.
The truck driver wasn't hurt.
It had been snowing for most of the day in the Bathurst area, followed by a mix of snow and ice pellets, according to Environment Canada's website.
Names of the victims had not been released, but many in the city of 12,500 quickly learned their identities and flocked to the school where grief counsellors and officials were offering help.
Some families publicly spoke about their loved ones who were killed in the accident.
Condolences were being posted on the school's website from people across the country, while a Facebook site set up to remember those killed had hundreds of members and photos of the teens by day's end.
Many entries showed the smiling teens playing basketball or horsing around with friends.
School superintendent John McLaughlin said students, parents and teachers began gathering at Bathurst High at 4 a.m.
"This is a whole community in mourning," he said in an interview. "It's unthinkable what happened and everyone's trying to make some sense of it."
A joint funeral for all seven boys was expected to be held Wednesday at a local civic centre.
Cleland said her brother, who planned to take a year off after graduating in June and possible train to become a firefighter, had just turned 17 and was a point guard who averaged 20 points a game.
"He loved life and loved living it to its fullest," she said. "He was such a funny and great guy. He loved any sport but he really loved basketball. He's been playing since he was four."
Edward Kelly, whose grandson Nick Kelly was one of the victims, said the 15-year-old was an avid soccer goalie who excelled at school.
"Nick was an A-1 student, he was an honour student, he loved sports, he was every parent's dream," he said. "His family is taking it not too well right now. It's pretty hard. It's a nightmare".
Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent a letter of condolence to the school's principal, Coleen Ramsay.
"The sudden loss of eight people in this unthinkable accident shocked the nation and all Canadians join you in mourning their passing," he said.
"As a father, I particularly grieve with the parents who have lost their children. The seven promising young students will be missed dearly by their loved ones, fellow students, and the wider community of Bathurst."
Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet, who once taught at the school, said he went to the high school and hospital shortly after the accident.
"The families are bound to be still in shock," he said. "A few hours ago their children were happily playing basketball and now their lives are turned around in a matter of hours. It's unbelievable."
Brunet said he saw the van's driver at the hospital, where they hugged and Brunet expressed his sorrow for what happened.
"Not only did he lose his team but he lost his wife as well," Brunet said about his good friend and neighbour. "He's in a state of shock, not knowing what to say or do, just hugging the parents that came along."
Ramsay said she was focusing on the needs of the students and families, adding that she was "dealing with a school in crisis."
McLaughlin said Bathurst is a close-knit community, where "everybody pretty well knows everybody."
"The students, for many of them, this is the first time they've ever had to face loss or death and to have to do that in a situation of this magnitude. It's unspeakable."
McLaughlin said he knows many of the boys who died personally.
"They were just such positive, high-energy, just typical all-Canadian boys, just wonderful kids, very well-liked, very personable and popular and very much leaders in their school," he added. "It's just a terrible tragedy."
Doug Prescott, president of the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association and a longtime basketball referee, called the crash "a terrible tragedy."
Prescott said he has known the Phantoms' head coach for years and knew some of the players through his capacity as a referee.
"Bathurst High is always one of the most sportsmanlike teams in the province of New Brunswick and they represent themselves with extreme pride," he said. "It's always a pleasure to either see them play or referee them."
-With files from Alison Auld, James Keller and Melanie Patten in Halifax
Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080112/national/nb_fatal_crash
By Chris Morris, The Canadian Press
BATHURST, N.B.
A van carrying a high school boys' basketball team home from a game was only five minutes from waiting parents when it fish-tailed on a slippery highway and slammed into a tractor-trailer, killing seven players and one adult.
Emily Cleland, sister of victim Nathan Cleland, said some parents had gathered at a fast-food restaurant to pick up their children who were expected at about 11:30 p.m. in this small northern New Brunswick city.
But by midnight, when there was no sign of their white school van, families began to worry that something had gone wrong on the icy two-lane highway leading into Bathurst.
Their fears were confirmed moments later when they got a call telling them to go to a hospital because there had been an accident.
When they arrived, parents saw police and ambulances bringing in the four survivors.
"My parents had seen the first two boys come in - one with a broken arm and the other with broken ribs - so they figured they had brought in the worst-case scenarios first and they weren't really worried," Cleland, 18, said from the family home.
"And that's when they realized that the ambulances had stopped coming because the other ones had died on impact."
The Bathurst High Phantoms were returning from a game in Moncton, N.B., about 220 kilometres away, when the accident occurred on Highway 8 outside Bathurst shortly after midnight.
The force of the collision tore off the rear and a large piece of the passenger side of the large 15-seat van, and ejected benches and people everywhere. Hours later, the benches still lay strewn in snow smeared with blood and littered with bits of plastic, lunch bags, debris and surgical gloves.
"When members arrived at the scene, all eight were dead - there was nothing we could do," RCMP Sgt. Derek Strong said during a news conference later.
"This was a very, very major impact."
Strong said the road was icy at the time and the van's driver - a teacher at the school and also the team's coach - lost control. He survived but his wife, a teacher at another school who was supervising the team, was killed.
Strong said officers who went to the accident scene were shaken by what they saw.
"Police officers go to a lot of accident scenes but this one was above and beyond anything any of us are used to," he said.
Strong said it appears no one was at fault in the accident.
Twelve people were in the vehicle when it veered across the centre line and hit the truck. The van was equipped with seatbelts, but investigators didn't know if they were used.
Calls then went out to families only telling them of the crash, not whether their child had been hurt.
"My mother was notified by the police who told her to go to the hospital," said Carla Johnstone, whose 17-year-old brother Javier Acevedo was killed.
"They sat her down and told her when they reached the scene of the accident he was the first body they saw and there was no sign of life. She had to identify the body at the morgue."
Johnstone, 23, said Acevedo had called his mom about 15 minutes before the accident to let her know he was on his way back after the game, which the Phantoms lost 75 to 65 to Moncton High School.
"He said, 'I'm OK, we're on our way, we're in Miramichi.'... He said he was coming home and not to worry."
Lydia Dupere, a spokeswoman for the Acadie-Bathurst Health Authority, said three people were still in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A fourth person had been treated for injuries and released.
The truck driver wasn't hurt.
It had been snowing for most of the day in the Bathurst area, followed by a mix of snow and ice pellets, according to Environment Canada's website.
Names of the victims had not been released, but many in the city of 12,500 quickly learned their identities and flocked to the school where grief counsellors and officials were offering help.
Some families publicly spoke about their loved ones who were killed in the accident.
Condolences were being posted on the school's website from people across the country, while a Facebook site set up to remember those killed had hundreds of members and photos of the teens by day's end.
Many entries showed the smiling teens playing basketball or horsing around with friends.
School superintendent John McLaughlin said students, parents and teachers began gathering at Bathurst High at 4 a.m.
"This is a whole community in mourning," he said in an interview. "It's unthinkable what happened and everyone's trying to make some sense of it."
A joint funeral for all seven boys was expected to be held Wednesday at a local civic centre.
Cleland said her brother, who planned to take a year off after graduating in June and possible train to become a firefighter, had just turned 17 and was a point guard who averaged 20 points a game.
"He loved life and loved living it to its fullest," she said. "He was such a funny and great guy. He loved any sport but he really loved basketball. He's been playing since he was four."
Edward Kelly, whose grandson Nick Kelly was one of the victims, said the 15-year-old was an avid soccer goalie who excelled at school.
"Nick was an A-1 student, he was an honour student, he loved sports, he was every parent's dream," he said. "His family is taking it not too well right now. It's pretty hard. It's a nightmare".
Prime Minister Stephen Harper sent a letter of condolence to the school's principal, Coleen Ramsay.
"The sudden loss of eight people in this unthinkable accident shocked the nation and all Canadians join you in mourning their passing," he said.
"As a father, I particularly grieve with the parents who have lost their children. The seven promising young students will be missed dearly by their loved ones, fellow students, and the wider community of Bathurst."
Bathurst Mayor Stephen Brunet, who once taught at the school, said he went to the high school and hospital shortly after the accident.
"The families are bound to be still in shock," he said. "A few hours ago their children were happily playing basketball and now their lives are turned around in a matter of hours. It's unbelievable."
Brunet said he saw the van's driver at the hospital, where they hugged and Brunet expressed his sorrow for what happened.
"Not only did he lose his team but he lost his wife as well," Brunet said about his good friend and neighbour. "He's in a state of shock, not knowing what to say or do, just hugging the parents that came along."
Ramsay said she was focusing on the needs of the students and families, adding that she was "dealing with a school in crisis."
McLaughlin said Bathurst is a close-knit community, where "everybody pretty well knows everybody."
"The students, for many of them, this is the first time they've ever had to face loss or death and to have to do that in a situation of this magnitude. It's unspeakable."
McLaughlin said he knows many of the boys who died personally.
"They were just such positive, high-energy, just typical all-Canadian boys, just wonderful kids, very well-liked, very personable and popular and very much leaders in their school," he added. "It's just a terrible tragedy."
Doug Prescott, president of the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association and a longtime basketball referee, called the crash "a terrible tragedy."
Prescott said he has known the Phantoms' head coach for years and knew some of the players through his capacity as a referee.
"Bathurst High is always one of the most sportsmanlike teams in the province of New Brunswick and they represent themselves with extreme pride," he said. "It's always a pleasure to either see them play or referee them."
-With files from Alison Auld, James Keller and Melanie Patten in Halifax
Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080112/national/nb_fatal_crash