Mounties say a woman is dead and others have serious injuries following a multi-vehicle crash on a southern Alberta highway on Tuesday.
Emergency crews responded to a 911 call about a serious collision involving a pickup truck, a heavy-duty pickup truck and an SUV on Highway 8 about 500 metres east of the Highway 22 traffic circle at around 4:15 p.m.
RCMP said the SUV was heading west on Highway 8 when it braked and is “believed to have slid on ice into oncoming traffic” before colliding with the heavy-duty pickup truck that was travelling east on Highway 8.
That caused the SUV to “spin back into the westbound lane, striking a pickup truck that had been travelling westbound behind the SUV,” RCMP said.
All vehicles ended up in the ditch.
Two people were in the SUV, RCMP told Global News. The SUV driver suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital while the passenger, a 72-year-old woman, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Both people were from Cochrane.
The driver and lone occupant of the heavy-duty pickup truck from Calgary was taken to hospital with serious injuries but has since been released, RCMP said.
The driver and passenger of the pickup truck — both from Cochrane — were assessed by EMS at the scene with minor injuries.
STARS Air Ambulance was initially called to the scene but was stood down.
RCMP asked drivers to avoid the area late Tuesday afternoon. Traffic was diverted as police said Highway 8 east of the Highway 22 traffic circle would likely be blocked for several hours so the collision could be investigated by an RCMP collision reconstructionist.
The scene was cleared around 8 p.m., RCMP said.
– With files from Kaylen Small