15 confirmed dead after collision between bus carrying seniors and semi in southwestern Manitoba: RCMP

At least 10 people are dead after a serious crash between a semi-trailer truck and a Handi-Transit vehicle near the town of Carberry in southwestern Manitoba, a source tells CBC News.

A CBC reporter at the scene says there are multiple tarps on the ground close to where the collision happened at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 5, just north of Carberry.

The Brandon fire department told CBC News the crash involved a semi-trailer truck and a Handi-Transit vehicle.

The response to the crash included 14 critical care medical crew, two helicopters and two planes from the STARS air ambulance service.

STARS spokesperson Blake Robert said that's one of the service's biggest responses ever.

"This is sort of in line with the similar large incidents that we responded to in the past, such as the tragedy with Humboldt Broncos, the incident in James Smith Cree Nation," Robert said.

Robert didn't know yet exactly how many people were transported for medical care after STARS was called just after noon.

The helicopters typically take patients to Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre, he said. That hospital has declared a code orange, which is used for a mass casualty event, in connection with the crash.

A witness to the aftermath of the crash said he saw a burning vehicle in a ditch just after noon on Thursday.

John Proven also saw a semi-trailer truck nearby with a burned front end, and said the burning vehicle in the ditch looked like a van.

He saw about 20 police vehicles and seven or eight ambulances at the scene.

"I have never seen an accident that big," Proven told CBC News in a phone interview. "It's a little bit shocking."

RCMP have so far provided few details about the crash, other than to say Mounties are at the scene of what they described as a "very serious collision" at the intersection.

In a tweet just before 1 p.m., RCMP asked people to avoid the area and yield to officers and emergency vehicles, and said highway closures were in effect.