Bus drivers in Prince George are shaken up following the tragic accident involving the Humboldt Broncos.
Teams like the Cariboo Cougars, Prince George Spruce Kings, and Prince George Cougars endure long road trips during the season and come across some bad weather from time to time when travelling by bus.
Zeke Fillion is one of many transport operators in the city and is currently the bus driver for the BC Major Midget Hockey League Cariboo Cougars.
He says you have to keep your head on a swivel at all times.
“You’re always paying attention to the other guys on the road, it doesn’t matter how good you are you always have to pay attention to your surroundings and keep an eye on the other guy to make sure he doesn’t slide sideways and spin our or jackknife.”
“I went through some pretty major storms where you could barely see in white-out conditions but we managed to get through, as long as the road is open I tell all of my teams we will always get there.”
Fillion has been lucky during his time on the road.
He never had anything remotely to a close call until recently.
“I was recently coming through the canyon had a rockslide coming at us we had gone through Boston Bar and I had just caught it out of the corner of my eye and I see a big rock coming on to the highway there, I had to yell at the boys to hang on and we served over and we had to go into the other lane to avoid it.”
The whole country and around the world have shown an outpouring of support on social media since the incident struck on Friday.
When Fillion caught wind of the incident, he was just about to go on another run.
“It was devastating, you have no words to explain it and as I was getting up at three in the morning getting ready to do my mine run I heard of this and it was just devastating and I have no words to explain how I feel.”
The crash killed 15 people, which included players, coaches, support staff and even the Broncos team bus driver, Glen Doerksen.
Earlier today, the Ministry of Justice in Saskatchewan issued an apology after a case of misidentification occurred.
It was originally reported 18-year-old Xavier Labelle as one of the victims but has since been confirmed alive, while Parker Tobin has been confirmed dead after being reported as alive.
If you wish to assist the Humboldt Broncos, a Go Fund Me page has been set and has currently exceeded over five million dollars.
Tonight our thoughts and prayers are also with those first responders who are at the accident scene involving the #HumboldtBroncos – we are grateful you are there and can't even imagine how difficult this would be! #grateful #courage
— Shirley Bond (@shirleybond) April 7, 2018