CALGARY, Alberta — Humboldt Broncos survivor Ryan Straschnitzki was a passenger on a bus that was rear-ended by a truck on his way home from physiotherapy.
Straschnitzki, 19, was one of 13 survivors April 6 when the team bus was hit by a semi-trailer at an intersection north of Tisdale, Saskatchewan. Sixteen people died, and Straschnitzki was paralyzed from the chest.
“His transport bus was involved in a collision. In and of itself, would’ve been traumatic to anyone. To Ryan, and, ultimately Tom and I (on the other side of his SOS call), it was devastating,” his mother, Michelle Straschnitzki, wrote on Facebook.
She said he was returning Monday to his home in Airdrie when the accident occurred, and that the impact was so jarring it threw him from his wheelchair to the floor. The accident occurred on an off-ramp entering Airdrie, just north of Calgary.