8 Souls Lost

A sign outside a youth centre in Bathurst, N.B. reflects the sorrow that embraces the community Saturday after a van carrying the Bathurst High Phantoms basketball team collided with a transport truck while returning from a game early in the morning. Seven members of the team died. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

The Surcease of Sorrow
© By Kelly L. Delaney

Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am the sparkle in the snow.
I am the shredded leaves that blow.
I am the sunlight on growing grain.
I am the gentle summer rain.
I am the quiet bird at night.
Circling about; Taking flight.
So do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.

A deadly road crash in New Brunswick, Canada has claimed the lives of eight people near the city of Bathurst on Saturday. A van carrying 12 people was returning from a school basketball game in Moncton when it slid on an icy highway and collided with a semi-trailer truck.

Of the dead, seven were members of the Bathurst High School boys basketball team and the other was a teacher, the van driver's wife. The survivors are three teammates and a coach who was driving the van, all of whom were hospitalised at Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst. The driver of the semi-trailer was uninjured. The crash occurred on New Brunswick Route 8 as it approached the junction with Route 11 into Bathurst.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his shock and condolences, describing the tragedy as "unthinkable". New Brunswick Premier Shawn Graham also expressed his condolences.