Source: Revelstoke Times Review
BRITISH COLUMBIA - A serious head-on collision involving a minivan and a rig hauling an oversized load of six massive tractor tires has sent at least two to hospital in serious condition, and injured several others in three other vehicles that were involved in the chain-reaction crash.
The collision occurred just west of of the Clanwilliam bridge about 12 kilometres west of Revelstoke after 1 p.m. today.
An eyewitness travelling in a transport truck just behind the collision said the crash started when a mini-van lost control on an icy, wind-swept section of the Trans-Canada. The van swerved out of control in the narrow, curved, two-lane section, and then ricocheted off of the concrete barrier that divides the highway from the ice-covered Summit Lake.
The van then shot into the oncoming lane where it smashed into the large transport truck.
As a result of the crash, or perhaps because it swerved to avoid it, the large truck drove off the road and became wedged into a snow bank in the ditch.
Two other minivans travelling behind the first one then slid into the car, also causing injuries to the drivers and passengers in those vehicles.
The force of the initial impact flung Christmas presents out of the minivan, and they came to rest on the road and in the snow banks.
Revelstoke Fire Rescue Services attended the scene and had to use hydraulic equipment to pry a number of occupants out of the first vehicle, and then load them on spine boards. The eyewitness said it appeared the two occupants in the vehicle were an elderly mother and her daughter. The person in the front passenger seat was closest to the impact. The seat had been pushed back to where the back passenger seats had been.
Once inside the ambulance, the paramedics worked on the first patient for over 15 minutes. Emerging from the back, the driver ran and jumped into the driver seat before heading back towards Revelstoke.
The roads were busy with holiday travellers. The force of the crash had ripped the plates off the first minivan. There were several people in the second car, who appeared to have been wearing skiing gear. Their vehicle had Alberta plates. The third minivan had Manitoba plates.
At the scene of the crash, the road was covered with a slick layer of ice over a centimetre thick. The surface of the highway in this stretch has been in this condition for a number of days now.
Traffic was backed up for over three kilometres on the eastern side of the incident about 90 minutes after the crash. A kilometre east of the crash, a road worker setting up large 'Accident Scene' signs cursed to himself under his breath. 'I don't know why they don't close the goddamn highway,' he muttered.
Predictably, this was not the only crash on the highways around Revelstoke today.
The Times Review spoke with Revelstoke RCMP traffic services just prior to this collision to find out about another serious crash earlier in the day. Originally reported as a fatality involving someone who had been ejected from a vehicle, they said that in fact nobody had been killed. A spokesperson for the department phoned back soon after the second crash occurred saying they wouldn't be able to get to the paperwork today.
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