‘It takes you right back:’ Former Broncos president reacts to Manitoba crash

The deadly crash outside Carberry, Man., on Thursday caused Kevin Garinger to harken back to April 6, 2018.

“I think my initial reaction was the same as a lot of people (from across Saskatchewan and beyond) who have experienced the Humboldt Broncos tragedy,” Garinger, the former president of the SJHL team, said Friday.

“The fact that there is a great deal of trauma that is involved when tragedies of this nature happen and so much grief that comes with it, certainly that was an immediate feeling that I had.

“It takes you right back to what happened on April 6 of 2018, and the immediate response that you need to have and make as leaders.”

On Thursday, a bus and a semi collided at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 near Carberry. The crash killed 15 people on the bus — which was carrying 25 people, mostly residents of a seniors home in Dauphin, Man. — and injured the other 10.

A little over five years ago, the Broncos were on their way to a playoff game in Nipawin when their bus and a semi crashed at a rural intersection near Tisdale. Sixteen of the people on the bus died as a result of the crash, while 13 others were injured.

The effects of the Broncos tragedy reverberated across Canada and the world as people rallied around Humboldt. On Friday, Garinger stressed just how important it is to help people who are enduring a loss.

“In the middle of a crisis, we’re not alone,” he said.

Garinger said it’s crucial to seek support, whether through family or professionals.

“Everybody’s entitled to grieve in their own way,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how far away you are removed from it, or how close it is to you. The fact is, people are going to experience a level of grief or sometimes a traumatic response from it. And that’s personal and it’s theirs.”

Garinger said he knows how difficult it is to keep moving forward in the wake of a tragic event like Thursday’s crash.

“It doesn’t go away,” Garinger said. “This is not something that people will say, ‘There will be healing that will come eventually.’ You never heal from it. You really just learn to live in a different way with tragedy and loss and trauma. That’s the reality.”

Garinger said his prayers are with all those affected.

“I turn my attention to the families and all those who have lost loved ones and are dealing with this tragedy at this time, and my heart and everything about me goes out to them and to their families,” Garinger said.

Rob Muench, who was Humboldt’s mayor at the time of the crash, also flashed back when he heard about Thursday’s crash.

“I went back five years to when the news broke in Humboldt here,” Muench told The Canadian Press. “I think that probably happened to a lot of local people here.”

Muench, who’s now a Humboldt city councillor, said city officials shared information about what they learned in the aftermath of the Broncos crash with their counterparts in Dauphin.

Muench also reached out to Dauphin’s mayor to share information that could help that town as it comes to terms with Thursday’s crash.

“Again, (it’s) another day where we’re going to probably sit back and remember this as what happened and where we were at this point,” Muench said.

— With files from The Canadian Press