One man was killed in a collision between two semi-trailers on Highway 1 west of Calgary on Thursday.
Canmore RCMP said a member on patrol witnessed the collision, which happened in the eastbound lanes east of Lac Des Arcs, Alta., just after midnight.
“An eastbound semi struck another semi that was parked on the shoulder of the highway,” RCMP explained in a Thursday news release. “The impact caused an immediate explosion and subsequent fire.”
RCMP said a pedestrian, believed to be the driver of the parked semi-trailer, was hit and killed. A passenger in the parked semi-trailer, meanwhile, was ejected from the vehicle.
Calgary EMS spokesperson Stuart Brideaux said paramedics from both Canmore and the Stoney Nakoda First Nation responded to the crash.
They transported both the passenger from the parked semi-trailer and the driver from the other semi to the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.
Brideaux said the passenger in the parked semi-trailer, a man in his 40s, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the other semi-trailer, a man in his 30s, also suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
RCMP are investigating the cause of the collision.
The crash caused westbound lanes of Highway 1 to be temporarily closed. RCMP said eastbound lanes will remain closed “pending investigation and removal of debris.”
The hamlet of Lac Des Arcs is located about 70 kilometres west of Calgary.