A section of Rutland Road in Kelowna is closed due to what police are calling multiple collisions.
Kelowna RCMP say the road is closed between Leathead Road and Hartman Road, and they are asking motorists to avoid the area.
Emergency vehicles are on scene, and Rutland Road will be closed for an undetermined amount of time.
“More details will be released when available,” said police, “as this is a very fluid scene and other road closures could be in effect.”
In an interview with Global News, Const. Mike Della-Paolera said police received multiple calls of a multiple-scene collision in front of Rutland Middle School and Rutland Secondary School, just before students were about to arrive.
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Della-Paolera said up to four vehicles were involved and that there were multiple victims, but no fatalities. He also said the driver of the main vehicle involved in the incident has been detained.
“Right now, the investigation is still in its infancy,” he said. “It’s being conducted by the Kelowna RCMP’s Traffic Unit and B.C. Highway Patrol. We are waiting for our collision analysis team to help figure out what happened.”
The incident isn’t confined to one area; rather, it’s quite lengthy — roughly three city blocks — with Della-Paolera saying “it’s going to take a lot of resources to do the investigation.”
The victims, say police, included pedestrians and drivers of the vehicles. However, RCMP did not have any updates regarding the victims.
“What we are thankful for is that no students were injured,” said Della-Paolera. “And there’s no more concern for the public’s safety.
“Just a little bit of difference in time could have made a completely different outcome. We’re just grateful that nobody was injured from our school population.”
Police also thanked the school district for staff coming out and directing students to their respective schools.
“It’s amazing nobody was killed, like really,” said area resident Bruce Kobitzsch. “I mean you look at the mayhem there, it’s amazing that nobody was killed here.”
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