Two young women are dead and two seriously injured in a head-on crash that shut down the Sea-to-Sky Highway in both directions for hours Saturday.
A Jeep Cherokee carrying four women ranging in age from 19 to 20 was heading northbound on Highway 99 at around 7:35 a.m. when it lost control going around a corner, crossing the center line and striking an oncoming pickup truck head on, according to RCMP.
Two of the four women died of their injuries, while the other two were taken to hospital, one with serious injuries and one who is in stable condition, according to Insp. Tim Shields.
"This is a tragedy beyond words," Shields said. He couldn't give an exact reason as to the cause of the crash, but said road conditions are currently less than ideal.
"The temperature was around zero degrees celsius and there was some frost, potentially icy conditions in certain areas," he said.
RCMP said two of the female passengers are from America and two are Canadian.
The male driver of the pickup truck suffered minor injuries and was able to walk away from the crash, Shield said.
The collision happened on an undivided section of the highway that only has one lane on each side.
The highway reopened at around 5:30 p.m., with lengthy delays due to traffic congestion and no available detours.
Police haven’t confirmed the identities of the women that were killed.
