2 men dead after pair of unrelated central Alberta highway crashes Thursday

Two separate highway crashes in central Alberta on Thursday resulted in the deaths of two drivers, the RCMP confirmed on Friday.

At 3:17 p.m., officers with the Parkland RCMP detachment were called to a single-vehicle collision at Highway 16 and Range Road 24. Police said the driver of the truck that crashed, a 50-year-old man from Parkland County, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that a truck was travelling east… on Highway 16 when the vehicle suddenly cut across the median, went through both westbound lanes and struck a power standard,” the RCMP said in a news release.

“Parkland RCMP, with the assistance of the RCMP collision analyst, continue to investigate the cause of the collision.”

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Earlier on Thursday, members of the Boyle RCMP detachment responded to a 911 call about a single-vehicle rollover on Highway 63 near Township Road 700 in Athabasca County.

Emergency crews were called to that crash, which involved a pickup truck, at about 1 a.m.

“Attempts by witnesses and responding emergency crews were unsuccessful in extricating the lone driver from the vehicle to provide emergency first aid,” police said. “A 65-year-old Edmonton man, the lone occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The RCMP said at this point their investigation suggests the truck that crashed was headed south on Highway 63 before it lost control and rolled several times before coming to a stop in the centre median.

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“Icy road conditions are believed to be a contributing factor in this collision,” police said.