The last few days have been agonizing for Danielle Chartré, whose husband died during the fiery crash on Highway 40 Tuesday.
Chartré was travelling in Trois-Rivières when the multi-vehicle crash erupted in explosions that rocked the Metropolitan.
READ MORE: Highway 40 reopened after fatal accident
“I felt so vulnerable being so far away,” Chartré told Global News from her backyard.
“It was a tragedy.”
Chartré learned later that day that her husband of 35 years, Gilbert Prince, died behind the wheel of a diesel truck in the accident.
READ MORE: ‘It’s like the apocalypse,’ one dead after fiery accident on Highway 40
His final minutes were captured by an onlooker who was filming on a cell phone.
WATCH BELOW: Carol Bujold tries to help Gilbert Prince, trapped in his truck
Prince’s diesel tanker truck slammed into the back of a cube truck after it stopped suddenly just above Lajeunesse Street on the westbound lane of the Metropolitan Expressway.
Gasoline spilled out and caught on fire, which ignited the diesel fuel inside the tanker.
Initially, Chartré said she held out hope that her husband wasn’t involved in the accident, but when she heard the name of the trucking company over the news, her heart sank.
READ MORE: Man who tried to save driver from burning tanker on Highway 40 released from hospital
The company only had one tanker truck, and she knew Prince was driving it that day.
Wednesday, engineers inspected the highway and fully reopened it to traffic Thursday morning.
“This hasn’t been easy,” she told Global News.
“He was a father who was very close to his children.”
The pair had four children together, four grandchildren and Chartré said a fifth grandchild is on the way in January.
She described her husband as an outdoor enthusiast who loved to travel.
READ MORE: Projet Montréal questions city’s emergency protocol following Highway 40 accident
Chartré said Prince’s funeral is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 20 at the church in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, where Prince regularly attended mass.
Comments