1 dead and 4 sent to hospital after rollover crash that shut down Coquihalla Highway on Saturday
At least one person has died after a rollover crash that shut down the southbound lanes of the Coquihalla Highway for much of the day Saturday.
BC RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Jesse O'Donaghey said in a statement that the BC Highway Patrol is investigating the Highway 5 crash that happened south of the Portia Brake Check, and that the BC Coroners Service attended the scene.
Five people were in the vehicle, say RCMP, one of whom was pronounced dead at the scene.
“First responders arrived on scene to find a heavily damaged grey Mazda CX-9 on its side,” said O’Donaghey.
“Two adults and two children sustained varying degrees of injuries, all serious and many considered to be potentially life threatening in nature. While sadly a fifth occupant of the vehicle, a woman in her 70s, was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
BC Emergency Health Services and RCMP say the two adults, a man and a woman, were airlifted to hospital in critical condition.
“At last update, both the man and woman were in emergency surgery,” said O’Donaghey in his statement late Saturday night.
The ambulance service dispatched two air ambulances and four ground ambulances to the scene.
RCMP say that one of the kids was transported by BC Air Ambulance to BC Children’s Hospital in critical condition, and that the other was taken to another Lower Mainland hospital with serious bodily injuries, believed to be non-life threatening.
RCMP say that first responders attended the scene around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, and that collision reconstruction experts and the coroners are working to understand what led to the elderly woman’s death.
“In order to protect the privacy and identity of the deceased and all those injured in this tragic crash, no further information will be released by police,” O’Donaghey said.
DriveBC first tweeted reports of the incident just after 9:30 a.m., and soon confirmed that a crash had closed Highway 5's southbound lanes for more than 106 kilometres.
The closure was in effect from one kilometre south of Merritt to one kilometre north of Hope, according to DriveBC, which advised motorists to take Highway 5A to Highway 3 as a detour.
While the Coquihalla's northbound lanes remained open, DriveBC said major delays were expected in both directions.
Around 1:30 p.m., the agency tweeted that southbound traffic was "slowly being flushed," a phrase it later clarified meant that vehicles were being allowed to pass the crash scene and continue toward Hope.
The highway reopened around 3:30 p.m., according to DriveBC.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
NEW Iconic Canadian song turns 50
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey: I set an unrealistic standard for dieting
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
Prince Harry, Meghan arrive in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games and meet with wounded soldiers
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, arrived in Nigeria on Friday to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans, among them Nigerian soldiers fighting a 14-year war against Islamic extremists.
Countries struggle to draft 'pandemic treaty' to avoid mistakes made during COVID
After the coronavirus pandemic triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. Years later, countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak.
Toronto police called to Drake's Bridle Path mansion for another alleged intruder on Thursday
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
Ontario family receives massive hospital bill as part of LTC law, refuses to pay
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Flat tire on a highway? Here's why you shouldn't try to fix it
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Storm-battered U.S. South is again under threat. A boy swept into a drain fights for his life
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.