Calgary police were forced to shut down a section of Crowchild Trail southwest Wednesday morning after a vehicle appears to have gone off the road, hit a concrete sign abutment and burst into flames.
The crash happened shortly before 9 a.m. on northbound Crowchild Trail near the Calgary Military Museums, between Flanders Avenue and 50 Avenue S.W.
Video from the scene taken shortly after the crash shows the vehicle engulfed in flames.
Witness Karen Warrington told Global News, she was leaving the nearby Flames Community Arenas when she heard an explosion.
“I heard the impact,” Warrington said. “I came over and you could see the white car, which had hit the post, and immediately black smoke. People were stopped on Crowchild running to the vehicle, grabbing crowbars, trying to get the occupant out, and it didn’t take long before the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames.”
“I’m a little bit in shock. It’s not a way somebody wants to begin the morning,” added Warrington. “I pray for the family of this individual.”
Police closed northbound Crowchild at 50th Avenue S.W. for several hours while the CPS collision reconstruction unit was called in to investigate.
So far there’s no word on the cause of the crash.