Residents of Dauphin are weighed down with grief and trying to deal with enormity of a horrific highway crash Thursday that claimed 15 lives and sent 10 people to hospital where they remain in serious condition..A semi-trailer truck and a bus carrying 25 people, mostly seniors ranging in age from 60-80 on a casino day trip, collided on the Trans Canada Hwy. at Highway 5, just north of Carberry..The survivors were rushed to nearby hospitals in Winnipeg and Brandon. Officials said they suffered head and orthopedic injuries..“We can now confirm there have been no new deaths recorded since we last updated the media yesterday afternoon,” Shared Health CEO Lanette Siragusa said in a Friday statement from the Health Sciences Centre (HSC) in Winnipeg..Six of the 10 patients are in the critical care unit at the Health Sciences Centre, said Dr. Shawn Young, the HSC’s chief operating officer. .The other four are on a surgical unit being treated for serious “severe” injuries..“A number have received operations and more operations are planned, but these injuries are quite significant.”.Young did not rule out the possibility of some crash victims succumbing to their injuries..“It’s possible…Age does have a big impact on our ability to withstand injuries like this.”.“It will impact their recovery, it will impact their outcomes as well. This is an elderly cohort of patients, so their recoveries will be long, and their course could be complicated.”.The bus left the Dauphin Active Living Centre at approximately 9:30 a.m., carrying seniors to the Sandhills Casino in Carberry..Emergency crews arrived on the accident scene shortly before noon. .Witnesses said the bus and the front of the semi were engulfed in flames..Both drivers survived..By late Friday night, RCMP were still not able to provide families with names of the deceased..RCMP said the weather was clear at the time of the accident..RCMP have scheduled a Friday afternoon press conference..On Thursday, RCMP Supt. Rob Lasson said it appeared that the bus was heading south on Highway 5 and crossing the Trans-Canada Highway when it was hit..He declined to speculate on the cause or circumstances of the crash, but said the investigation continues and criminal charges are a possibility..Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak said no one in the western Manitoba city of 10,000 with a predominantly Ukrainian population, is untouched by the tragedy..“Literally, everybody in town knows somebody on that bus,” Bosiak told CBC news..“Right now, it's just dealing with the magnitude of this and how everybody is impacted,”.Bosiak urged people to reach out to members of the community..“If you know someone from Dauphin, if you used to live here, or if you know someone who lives here now, just reach out — whether that's a phone call or a message or an email, whatever.”.The crash prompted HSC to declare a code orange for a mass casualty incident..Flags continue to fly at half-staff outside Dauphin's city hall. .Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday the flag atop Ottawa’s Peace Tower would be lowered to half-staff..Members of Parliament bowed their heads and held a moment of silence for the 15 people killed in the crash.
