SUV crashes through northeast Calgary home

CALGARY- Just before 11:30 a.m Sunday morning, an SUV crashed into a house on the 200 block of Martindale Drive N.E.

Three people were inside the SUV at the time of the crash and they’re being assessed by paramedics.

All three are from the same family. A five year old girl was in the backseat, a woman in her 30’s was in the passenger seat and a man in his 50’s was the driver.

The man was taken to hospital for a medical incident unrelated to the crash. The young girl and woman were also taken to hospital as a precaution.

EMS says there was no one inside the house at the time of the accident.

The vehicle drove off the road right into the walkout basement of the house.

The family who lives in the home, counts their blessings. They were out shopping when the collision happened.  If it had it been 15 minutes earlier, the father says all three girls likely would have been in the playroom, directly in the path of the SUV.

“We are lucky all my three girls they are saved. Unfortunately at that time my sleeping time they are usually playing downstairs and at the same moment where the car hit the basement, the same place where they have the play station and they are playing there,” Balwinder Dhariwal the owner of the house said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We are lucky all my three girls they are saved. Unfortunately at that time my sleeping time they are usually playing downstairs and at the same moment where the car hit the basement, the same place where they have the play station and they are playing there," Balwinder Dhariwal the owner of the house said.

“I thank god we are saved and the guy who hit the house are saved as well,” Dhariwal said.

Witnesses say the Hyundai Santa Fe was travelling southbound on Martindale Drive.  One man came within centimeters of being struck in his vehicle and says he is thankful to be unharmed.

“This guy is coming here so fast, I think he is out of control, I don’t know what happened. He passed my car and tried to go there. I don’t know if this guy is asleep or what happened. I am lucky I’m safe,” Amandeep Gill said.

The Calgary Fire Department constructed a ramp to safely tow the SUV out. They says  the home did not sustain major structural damage and is still liveably. They did have to the necessary precautions though to clean up the accident.

“The first one being is the fuel on the vehicle itself. So we got a recovery truck and a hazmat truck standing by in case we have a fuel leak because were inside the residence. The other one is trying to build a ramp so that we can get the vehicle out without doing any further damage to the house itself,” Al Magwood from the Fire Department said.

No word yet on what caused the accident but Calgary Police continue to investigate.