Canada: At least 15 people die as bus collides with truck

A small bus carrying a group of mainly elderly people to a casino collided with a semi-trailer truck at a highway intersection in a rural part of the Canadian province of Manitoba on Thursday, killing 15 people, police said.

Rob Hill, Commanding Officer of the Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said the bus was carrying 25 people and authorities in Manitoba were deploying all their resources to the scene. Ten people were taken to hospital.

The crash occurred at the junction of two major roads near the town of Carberry, 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Manitoba's capital of Winnipeg. The bus passengers had been on their way from a senior center to a casino in Carberry.

Police said the drivers of both vehicles were alive, and declined to say who might have been responsible for the crash.

'Incredibly tragic,' says Trudeau

"The news from Carberry, Manitoba is incredibly tragic," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted. "I'm sending my deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones today, and I'm keeping the injured in my thoughts."

"My heart breaks hearing the news of the tragic accident near Carberry," Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said on Twitter.

The crash is one of the most lethal road accidents in recent Canadian history. The worst traffic accident in Canadian history occurred in 1997 when a bus carrying seniors plunged into a ravine in the province of Quebec, killing 44 people.