'At least 15 people dead' after semi-truck hits Handi-Transit van in Manitoba, ... trends now

At least 15 people have been killed following a serious collision between a semi-truck and a Handi-Transit van normally used to carry elderly and disabled people in Manitoba, Canada. 

The incident happened at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5 near Carberry at around 12pm on Thursday. 

Witnesses saw a truck nearby which had its front end burned, and a transport van was on fire in a ditch with plumes of thick smoke billowing from it. 

Emergency services raced to the scene with Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) Winnipeg and Regina air ambulance services dispatching two helicopters and two planes to help those hurt. 

Winnipeg hospitals have also been placed on Code Orange, which is used for mass casualty events, and they are preparing for patients from the crash.

The collision involved a semi-trailer truck and a Handi-Transit vehicle and killed 15 people, according to the Winnipeg Free Press.

If the death toll is confirmed, it would represent one of the most lethal road accidents in recent Canadian history.

In neighboring Saskatchewan, 16 people died in April 2018 after a truck hit a bus transporting junior hockey team Humboldt Broncos on a rural road. The truck driver was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2019. 

One witness on Thursday saw the burning transport van down in a ditch. 

Another, John Proven, saw the burned truck nearby and said there were 20 police vehicles and seven or eight ambulances at the scene.

'I have never seen an accident that big,' he told CBS News. 'It's a little bit shocking.'