Two semi-trucks travelling in opposite directions collided and burst into flames Thursday morning, killing one driver and triggering a complex investigation into the catastrophic crash.
Delta police say the trucks crashed into each other around 9:45 am on Deltaport Way, shutting down the causeway accessing the Deltaport terminal and causing commercial truck backups that stretched for kilometres and impacted port operations.
Global Container Terminals, which operates the Deltaport, told CTV News they “have advised our stakeholders to divert any inbound container trucks until further notice.”
“We don’t have collisions such as this very often,” said Delta police spokespersons Cris Leykauf.
When asked about the possible cause, she said “we really can't speculate at the time as the investigation really is very much ongoing. This was quite a complicated scene involving a significant fire that took hours to put out.”
Early in the day, Delta Fire Rescue said they were dealing with an entrapment and the BC Coroners’ Service later confirmed that one man died in the incident.
The provincial Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement branch is working with Delta police investigators, with the route still closed as they comb over the scene. Two heavy duty tow trucks arrived at the scene early Thursday afternoon, but clearing the two massive wrecks was expected to be complex and time-consuming with little room to manoeuvre on the narrow causeway.
Police are still interviewing witnesses and are asking anyone with dashcam or smartphone video to come forward.
