Fatal accident west of Montreal on Highway 20

MONTREAL – A gravely injured truck driver was removed from the wreckage of his tractor-trailer cab near Coteau-du-Lac about 7:30 a.m. Thursday after being trapped for about three hours, Sgt. Gregory Gomez del Prado of the Sûreté du Québec said.

The 33-year-old man from Ontario was declared dead in a Valleyfield hospital a short time later.

Eastbound traffic on that section of Highway 20 had been detoured beginning about 4:30 a.m.

Before a normal flow can be allowed to resume, Gomez del Prado said, accident-reconstruction experts will have to complete an on-site investigation.

That will likely take “a few hours,” he added. “We’re trying to reopen the highway as quickly as possible.”

The accident took place on a stretch where highway work was being done while road-marker cones were being collected.

Traffic headed in the direction of Montreal was being rerouted onto Highway 338.

Video broadcast from a TVA helicopter hovering over the site showed the morning jam was extensive.

The accident, west of Montreal Island, took place about 20 kilometres into the Quebec side of the border with Ontario.

It also involved two other vehicles.

Details remained skimpy. Both other vehicles were struck while they were accompanying members of a road crew who were collecting cones from the highway, Gomez del Prado said.

Five people in that crew suffered minor injuries, he added. All were treated on the scene.

That section of the highway has two lanes in each direction.

The SQ spokesperson said investigators will try to determine the speed at which the tractor-trailer was being driven – and whether restricted-speed signs had been posted.

“I don’t know if there were any signs or anything,” Gomez del Prado responded when asked.