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How it happened remains unclear. In the fog of overwhelming grief, even the unfathomable becomes possible, it seems.

Maybe it was the dyed blonde hair the Humboldt Broncos players were sporting in a collective show of playoff unity. Perhaps it was the similar builds of the players involved. Maybe the damage suffered in Friday’s bus crash made it difficult to recognize some of the young men onboard. It might have been a combination of little sleep and endless tears.

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Two Broncos players — one who survived Friday’s bus crash and one who died — were incorrectly identified by family and the provincial coroner as the other. Xavier Labelle, an 18-year-old from Saskatoon, was initially identified as one of the players killed in the crash. Labelle is alive. Parker Tobin, an 18-year-old from Stony Plain, Alberta, has now been identified as one of the 15 who died.

According to a joint statement, the families Tobin and Labelle “are grieving together. They hope the focus will remain on those grieving and those recovering, not the confusion in an unimaginable tragedy.”