BATHURST, N.B. -- A former team captain of the Bathurst Phantoms basketball team is offering his condolences to the friends and families of those killed in a crash involving the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.

RCMP have confirmed that 15 people were killed in the crash near Tisdale, Saskatchewan, including the team's head coach and captain.

Twenty-seven-year-old Jordan Frenette says he empathizes with the people affected by the tragedy, having had something similar happen to him when he was in high school.

In 2008, a van carrying his teammates collided with a semi-trailer truck near Bathurst, N.B., killing eight of the van's occupants and injuring four.

Frenette wasn't in the van because he was sick that day, but said he easily could have been one of the victims.

He hopes the people affected by the Humboldt Broncos bus crash are able to find healing through their communities.