The Ontario Provincial Police say a crash involving two transport trucks caused a partial closure of Highway 401 in Toronto and sent one man to hospital.
Emergency crews were called to the highway near the Allen Road Expressway at around 1:10 a.m. Tuesday.
A white transport truck was stopped on the right shoulder when a second transport truck approached and struck the truck which then propelled it up against the barrier just under a bridge, the OPP said.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said the male driver was trapped for about an hour and a half. Once he was extricated, he was then transported to hospital by paramedics in life-threatening condition.
“When I was looking at the damage to the truck, it was unbelievable that he was able to survive,” Schmidt said.
The eastbound express lanes of Highway 401 were still closed just east of Highway 400 to the Allen Road Expressway for most of the morning and reopened just before noon. The westbound express lanes were also closed following the collision but have since reopened, OPP said.
However, the OPP said the Highway 401 eastbound express to collectors transfer will still be closed at the Allen Road Expressway for a few more hours to ensure the barrier that was damaged due to the collision is fully repaired.
Sgt. Schmidt said the transport truck was fully loaded with meat products that had spilled across the highway including onto the westbound lanes.
The Ontario Provincial Police had warned motorists earlier that the collision cleanup would take a “long time.”