Crash kills seven students, teacher in New Brunswick
Richard Foot, Helen Morris and David Wylie , Canwest News Service Published: Saturday, January 12, 2008
BATHURST, N.B. - Tragedy struck the tightly-knit city of Bathurst, N.B., early Saturday when seven teenagers from the high school basketball team and a teacher were killed in a horrific highway crash.
The minivan carrying the Bathurst High Phantoms senior boys basketball team home from a game in Moncton lost control on an icy highway shortly after midnight and hit a tractor-trailer with enough force to rip the van open and eject the passenger benches from the vehicle.
The victims - one woman and seven boys aged 15 to 18 - died at the scene. RCMP say they will not identify the dead until all family have been contacted.
However, obituaries have been posted on a local funeral home website for Cody Branch, 17; Javier Acevedo, 17; and Nickolas Quinn, 16. Online memorials have paid tribute to students Justin Cormier and Daniel Hains, as well as teacher, Beth Lord. And family members have identified the remaining two boys as Nick Kelly and Nathan Cleland.
Emily Cleland, a student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, said she got the word at 2 a.m. that her younger brother, Nathan - one of the players, was dead.
"They told me that seven of the players had died on impact and the coach's wife and that my brother had been one of the seven to die," she said.
"He was great. He was my best friend my whole life."
She said he was among five of the students who were due to graduate this year. "One or two of them were considering going to university next year."
Three of four injured students are still in hospital. One, a student, is in intensive care. All are in stable condition and their injuries are not considered life-threatening.
The driver of the van, a teacher and coach, survived. His wife, also a coach and teacher, died at the scene. Their daughter was among the survivors.
"When members arrived at the scene all eight victims were dead," said New Brunswick RCMP spokesman Sgt. Derek Strong, calling the crash scene "indescribable."
"There was nothing we could do.
"The roads were quite icy, and it was a matter of the driver . . . losing control at the wrong time. I want to make it clear to everyone that at this time we do not suspect any illegal activity on behalf of either driver. It's a collision because of the weather."
Reports say that conditions on Route 11 were slippery around the time of the crash, with freezing rain and snow falling in the area.
The driver of the tractor-trailer escaped injury.
"It was extremely traumatic," Strong said. "Our members are trained to deal with a certain amount of calls of an unpleasant nature but last night was beyond description.
"We can only dare to imagine what the families are going through today."
Ed Kelly said his grandson Nick died in the crash. The 15-year-old athlete died alongside his best friend, Nickolas Quinn, who was going celebrate his 16th birthday Saturday, added Kelly.
"He was athletic, smart . . . whatever he tried, he achieved it. He was everybody's dream," said Kelly, 64, of his grandson.
"I've been (in Bathurst) for 32 years - that's the worst (tragedy) I've heard of here. We always think it's not going to happen to us," he said. "It's a shock and we still have to deal with it. It's part of life."
The streets of Bathurst, normally lively on a Saturday night, were dark and virtually deserted - except in front of Bathurst High School. There, dozens of grieving students were still milling around the entrance to the school, hugging, weeping and placing bouquets against the entrance doors.
"R.I.P Boys - We will hold you in our hearts forever," read the card on one bouquet.
The dead students were known for their devotion to the game. One transferred in from another school just to join the team.
Grade 11 student Katie Gormely cried as she recounted how she and the other members of the school's senior girls basketball team got the call about the crash around 4 a.m. at their hotel in Woodstock, N.B., where they were playing an away game. The team piled into their van and drove back to Bathurst immediately.
"They were the nicest guys you could ever meet," she said. "They just lit up the halls. They all had this glow. They all had a real passion for basketball. They were just amazing guys."
Grade 11 student Patrick Wafer said, "I don't even know how I feel yet. We're still trying to deal with this. Some of these guys were so good I wouldn't have been surprised to see them playing college ball."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent a letter of condolence to the school.
Meanwhile, school district superintendent John McLaughlin called the crash "a tragedy of unthinkable proportions."
He said a crisis centre has been set up at the school since 4 a.m. Saturday to provide "a safe, caring, nurturing place" for students, parents and community members to grieve.
The crisis centre will remain open Saturday and Sunday.
The high school will be open on Monday, McLaughlin said, and psychologists, social workers and guidance counsellors will be in place to help students deal with the tragedy.
"We are a city in mourning," said Bathurst mayor Stephen Brunet. "We're still in a state of shock."
Sophie Boudreau, a student at the school, said of the victims: "You couldn't have asked for better guys than those boys."
"These guys were multiple athletes. They were amazing, they had the biggest hearts, they were so kind to everybody," Boudreau said. "They were all like big teddy bears."
Boudreau said the community is "devastated," and the tragedy is pulling citizens and students together.
"Today all the students were just together, nobody wanted to be alone," she said. "We were all just together, we were all just comforting each other, hugging each other and we had to be with each other."
Emily Cleland said her brother was the sort of person who drew others to him.
"He was so charismatic, people were really drawn to him and he was just such a great guy. He had this love for life anything to do with sports or exercise."
Cleland broke down when she recalled her brother's plans for post-graduation: he wanted to train to be an emergency response paramedic.
"If there is anyone else who goes through what we're going through, know that there are lots of people out there to support them who understand what it feels like to lose someone you love so much."
Stephanie Brennan, a reporter with local radio station CKBC-FM, described a "sombre mood" in the city Saturday.
"It's a tough time for everyone involved," Brennan said. "It's still hitting close to home in a city of 12,000 that's really community oriented."
The station hires students from the high school for weekend work, and it was from one of those students that Brennan heard news of the crash.
"I got a call from one of the girls this morning at about 5:30, she was crying hysterically saying there was an accident. She said the basketball team died."
The town is pulling together to cope with the tragedy, Brennan said.
"There's such great community spirit and when something happens to someone everyone really pulls together.
"This morning at the high school the mayor was there, the councillors were there. The local police officers were at the hospital with the students."
Premier Shawn Graham said he was "shocked and saddened" by the tragedy.
"This is a sad day for the families, for the people of Bathurst and for our province as a whole," Graham said in a statement.
With files from Michael Barber
© Canwest News Service 2008
New Brunswick's road network. Bathurst is located in the province's north coast on the Baie des Chaleurs. 
A deadly road crash in New Brunswick, Canada has claimed the lives of eight people near the city of Bathurst on Saturday. A van carrying 12 people was returning from a school basketball game in Moncton when it slid on an icy highway and collided with a semi-trailer truck.

Of the dead, seven were members of the Bathurst High School boys basketball team and the other was a teacher, the van driver's wife. The survivors are three teammates and a coach who was driving the van, all of whom were hospitalised at Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst. The driver of the semi-trailer was uninjured. The crash occurred on New Brunswick Route 8 as it approached the junction with Route 11 into Bathurst.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his shock and condolences, describing the tragedy as "unthinkable". New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham also expressed his condolences.