'He was my best friend': Parents of teens killed in western Manitoba feeling the pain of fatal collision

Dan Swintak didn't just lose his only child in a tragic car crash in western Manitoba this week — he lost his best friend.

"He was downright a good kid, and I was very proud of him. I loved him very, very much," Swintak said, his voice breaking, during a telephone interview on Friday.

"He was my best friend. He was my mini me. He was 18 years old, but he still was able to give his old man a hug."

Chris Swintak was among four teens killed on Wednesday night, a few weeks after his 18th birthday, when his vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign as it travelled north on Provincial Road 274 into Gilbert Plains, about 30 kilometres west of Dauphin, and collided with a semi-trailer, RCMP say.

Two 17-year-old boys from the Dauphin area were also pronounced dead at the scene, while an 18-year-old woman from Carberry, Man., was pronounced dead in hospital, police said. A 15-year-old girl from Dauphin was taken to hospital with serious injuries, where she remains, RCMP said.

A Saskatoon man, 30, who was driving the semi was not physically injured, police said.

On Friday, people laid flowers and other items at a makeshift memorial at the site of the crash.

Swintak said he and his son formed an inseparable bond over the years; Chris's mother died when he was young.

"We would hang out together. We'd watch movies. We'd play crib, and we'd talk about everything from video games to girls to cars to you name it. I was proud to have a relationship like that with him," he said.

Swintak remembers his son as someone who loved making people laugh and spending time with his rescue dog, Buddy.

The teen was also a warrant officer in his cadet group, and had just picked a suit to wear to his graduation from Dauphin Regional Comprehensive Secondary School, Swintak said.

Stephen Jaddock, superintendent of the area's Mountain View School Division, said two of the other teens killed attended Gilbert Plains Collegiate. The girl in hospital is also a student in the division, and was in critical condition, the division said.

In response to the crash, the division opened the Gilbert Plains school on Thursday and Friday so people in the community could access support, including critical response members from the division and the community.

While he doesn't quite know what comes next for him, Swintak said, he's focused on what he can do in the present.