Two elderly women attend Sunday service at St. George's Ukrainian Orthodox Church, in Dauphin, Man., on June 18. Residents of Dauphin sought solace at church services as they mourn 15 community members who died in a highway crash that also left 10 gravely injured.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The rural community of Dauphin lost a piece of its collective memory with the tragic Manitoba bus crash on Thursday that killed 15, said its mayor.
With a population of just 8,500, the city has been reeling from the tragedy that played out on a stretch of Prairie highway. A minibus carrying residents, all between the ages of 58 and 88, to a nearby casino in Carberry was struck by a semi-trailer truck at an intersection on the Trans-Canada Highway.
The bus was engulfed in flames and burned to soot on the grassed edge of the road after the semi-trailer heading east on the double-lane thoroughfare struck the bus heading south on intersecting Highway 5. Ten survivors were gravely injured, six of whom are in critical condition, and any other occupants on the bus are presumed to be dead, said the RCMP.
Mayor David Bosiak, a lifelong resident of Dauphin, said what’s come up in conversation over the past few days is the loss of history and the multigenerational impact that will mark his community, considering many of the victims lived in the city their entire lives. All of the passengers either resided in the Dauphin Active Living Centre or nearby communities.
“It was sort of a grandma, a grandpa is gone situation,” he said on Sunday.
Now begins the long process of grieving.
Mr. Bosiak said all families of the deceased have been contacted by the RCMP after a restless, gut-wrenching few days where people were waiting on news to find out whether their loved ones were alive or dead. The names of the deceased have not been shared publicly, but Helen Kufley, 88, was confirmed among the victims by her son, Garry, on Saturday. Additional details are expected from police in the coming days.
The mayor said the support centre set up in the community ice rink to aid families of those involved in the crash has not been busy, having more therapy dogs on site than people on Saturday afternoon. He said it’s his gut feeling that, in a community as connected as Dauphin, people are finding solace in the comfort of their friends and neighbours.
Mr. Bosiak said there are no makeshift memorials such as those in the aftermath of the bus crash near Humboldt, Sask., in April, 2018, that killed 16 people connected to the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team.
There have been many comparisons made between the two multicasualty bus crashes. Mr. Bosiak said that while the accidents were similar, the response to the latest tragedy has differed greatly. That’s in part because of the difference in age groups and because the seniors weren’t part of a singular group – joining each other from a handful of communities.
“In the Humboldt situation, we were told a couple of scenarios of life lost, futures lost because these people had careers in front of them. That’s a nuance we’re trying to come to grips with, to deal with that difference,” he said.
Mr. Bosiak said he greatly appreciates the support shown to his community and from officials in Humboldt who are helping to guide Dauphin through this difficult time. He expects a decision will be announced Monday on whether a formal vigil or other public event will be held.
Jason Gilmore, president of the city’s rail museum, said the grief and shock is palpable. “You can get a sense that people are trying to just figure out how they’re supposed to feel right now,” he said.
Some residents sought comfort at Sunday church services where flames from burning candles flickered while prayers were offered to those hurting. When hymns were being sung, churchgoers wiped away tears. Father Brent Kuzyk of St. George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Dauphin said, during the Sunday service, that the tragedy must be faced as a community.
“We shall meet the sadness, meet the devastation, meet the horror head-on and meet the questioning head-on, because there is no way to get around it,” he said during the liturgy. “Many have fallen asleep from this life [but] they are not gone.”
Parishioner Rona Kamfoly said one of the victims was a distant relative of hers and she knew others from local dances, including one woman who she saw last Monday. “I don’t know if it’s intuition or whatever, but I kept looking at her,” she said. “Sometimes you think about a person, and then they’re gone.”
Flags have been lowered to half-mast outside of City Hall, where a digital billboard shows a burning candle. A few blocks away, a portable sign outside a plumbing business reads: “We love you, Dauphin.”
With reports from The Canadian Press