At least 15 people are dead in Canada following a crash between a semi-trailer truck and a vehicle used to transport elderly and physically disabled people according to multiple media reports, as crews mount one of the largest-ever emergency responses in the region. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba said it had deployed all available resources to respond to the “mass casualty” crash near the community of Carberry on Thursday, one hundred miles west of Winnipeg, adding that the major crimes services were investigating. Images on social media showed the Handi-Transit vehicle engulfed in flame. Subsequent images show the vehicle with its roof burned off. Manitoba resident Tracy Leitch was traveling the highway when she spotted smoke ahead, eventually passing a heavily damaged semi truck and another crumpled vehicle. “There was nothing left of the vehicle,” she told CTV News. “I was almost in tears and almost had a panic attack. Like I just felt really sick to my stomach.” Trucker Caroline Bleackley passed through the intersections of two highways around noon when she spotted the scene of the collision. “I have seen collisions before, but not like this; not of this magnitude,” she told the Winnipeg Free Press. “There was a lot of damage … It was pretty sad to see.”” A spokesperson for the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (Stars) air ambulance service said the scene was “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.” The service sent 14 physicians, paramedics and nurses as well as two helicopters and two planes to the scene. “Our hearts are broken, and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all the lives impacted by the horrific and devastating tragedy near the Town of Carberry,” Manitoba’s premier, Heather Stefanson, said in a statement. Flags at the province’s legislative building will be lowered to half mast. Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre hospital declared a code orange, a designation used for mass casualty events. Other hospitals in the area were preparing to receive an influx of patients. The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, tweeted: “My heart is broken to hear of the victims in the horrific crash near Carberry, Manitoba earlier today.” The RCMP are expected to provide an update later in the day.