Two Manitobans are dead after a pair of unrelated highway crashes five minutes apart on Wednesday evening, RCMP said.
The first incident took place around 7:15 p.m. on Highway 44 in the RM of Brokenhead.
Police said a 61-year-old man was transporting a couch in his truck when the couch fell onto the highway. He stopped the vehicle and was trying to get the couch out of the road when he was hit by an oncoming vehicle.
The man, from Oakbank, was pronounced dead on scene. The other driver, 23, from the RM of Springfield, wasn’t physically hurt.
Around 7:20 p.m., near the intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 15 in the RM of Springfield, a 77-year-old cyclist from Anola was killed when he collided with a vehicle, police said.
The driver, a 41-year-old woman, wasn’t injured in the incident.
In both cases, police said alcohol wasn’t a factor, but dark road conditions may have played a role.
RCMP and forensic investigators continue to investigate the deaths.