One of the victims of a deadly bus crash on Friday has been misidentified. Xavier Labelle, one of the members of the Humboldt Broncos that was previously believed to be dead, is alive, and Parker Tobin, who was believed to be alive, is dead.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice confirmed on Monday morning that an error had been made identifying the two victims.
Labelle was one of 15 people killed when a semi and the bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team collided on Friday.
Drew Wilby of the Ministry of Justice held a press conference on Monday morning to address the error, where he apologized to the families for the mistake.
“I want to thank them for their professionalism, I want to thank them for their support and I want to thank them for their understanding. I want to apologize to both of those families on behalf of the chief coroner and the Government of Saskatchewan for the error that was made,” Wilby said.
The mistake came to light on Sunday evening, after a vigil was held in Humboldt.
Wilby said the players had originally been identified without the use of dental records because of the time it takes to get the records from dentists across western Canada. He went on to say that the identification process was complicated by similarities in many of the players.
“A lot of these boys looked alike,” Wilby said, “They all have very similar builds, they’re all similar ages and they’re very athletic of course as they are Junior A hockey players.”
The families of Tobin and Labelle released a joint statement on Monday afternoon.
“The families of Parker Tobin and Xavier Labelle are grieving together,” the statement read. “They hope the focus will remain on those grieving and those recovering, not the confusion in an unimaginable tragedy.”
The government says all of the victims, living and dead have now been positively identified.
