'A tremendously emotional day': Mayors of Humboldt, Dauphin react to fatal Trans-Canada Highway crash

Thursday's tragic vehicle crash in Carberry is stirring up emotions for mayor of Humboldt, Sask. mayor, who said he is hoping to help the grieving communities.

Mayor Michael Behiel said in a Friday interview that he was shocked to hear the news, saying he then felt a knot in his stomach.

"Just brought back some memories that were not very pleasant," the mayor said."I need to make sure I'm doing what I can to offer assistance because of all the love and support that we received."

It has been more than five years since the tragic Humboldt Broncos crash on April 6, 2018 claimed the lives of 16 people. Beheil said over that time other places and sister cities have showed their support. Now, he wants to do the same for Dauphin .

 "Right now it's, for lack of a better term, triage," said Beheil. "Trying to get through the initial 72 hours sorted out, get everything understood, what's going on. And then that's where you have to start to develop after that the plan of action - how you're going to get through all of this."

He said additional support to keep the city running after the 2018 crash was helpful, as both leadership and residents were exhausted by the ordeal.

Behiel is advising Manitobans to let themselves grieve the tragedy.

"Don't be afraid to be sad, to grieve, to let yourself process those emotions," he said. "Don't try and hold them back because that's one of the worst things that I learned personally."

The mayor of Dauphin, Man. says there is a feeling of shock and disbelief following a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway that killed 15 people and injured 10.

“It’s a tremendously emotional day in our community, and much more so for those who are impacted by this terrible accident,” Mayor David Bosiak said during an interview on CTV Morning Live.

The crash, which involved a semi-truck and a Handi-Transit type bus, closed the Trans-Canada Highway at the Highway 5 intersection for several hours. The passengers on the bus were seniors from Dauphin and the surrounding area and were travelling to the Sand Hills Casino for an outing.

Bosiak said there is a great level of anxiety among residents in the community, especially if they are unsure if their loved ones survived the crash.

“Everyone who is involved in that accident has a connection to someone in the community, and some people, a very close connection,” Bosiak said. “Our community includes the rural municipality. We’re tight-knit as a city, but we’re surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Dauphin, and many of the people that were involved in the accident were actually rural municipality residents as well, so we’re in this together. And it’s a collective feeling of basically disbelief at this point.”

Bosiak says other cities and organizations have reached out to Dauphin to offer support.

Shared Health and Manitoba RCMP are both expected to release additional information on Friday.

-With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagace and Taylor Brock