Three Shuswap residents were killed in Tuesday’s head-on collision on the Trans-Canada Highway.
On Wednesday, nearly 24 hours after the fatal crash near Sorrento in B.C.’s Interior, police confirmed the number of fatalities, along with the communities of where the three victims lived.
Hours after the crash, information was scant, with police saying at least one person had died, though a witness told CFJC Today in Kamloops that people were dead at the scene.
Police say officers from the Chase RCMP detachment arrived on scene to find that B.C. Emergency Health determined that the occupants of both vehicles had all died at the scene.
“While the cause of the collision remains under investigation, witnesses report that a black sedan that had been travelling eastbound traveled into the oncoming lane of a westbound SUV, colliding head-on,” RCMP said in a press release.
On Wednesday, police said they and the B.C. Coroners Service are conducting parallel investigations surrounding the deaths of a 51-year-old Sorrento man plus a 67-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man, both from Blind Bay.
“Our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy,” said Chase RCMP Sgt. Barry Kennedy.
A collision reconstructionist from B.C. Highway Patrol was called to assist in the investigation.
The highway was temporarily closed before being reopened later in the day.