Mounties confirmed Monday that the multi-vehicle crash just south of the Vernon Cadet Camp was fatal.
The crash happened just before 8:30 a.m. Friday on Highway 97, when RCMP say a southbound pickup, described as a red GMC, entered the opposing lane and made contact with an oncoming vehicle.
“The red pickup then collided with a second oncoming vehicle, a black Toyota SUV, killing both occupants,” RCMP said in a press release.
A 71-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman, both from Vancouver, were the occupants of the SUV. The driver of the pickup truck was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.
“Impaired driving is suspected as a contributing cause to this collision and BC Highway Patrol Falkland has assumed conduct of the investigation with assistance from Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP, the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service and the BC Coroners’ Service,” police said in the release.
“Where criminality is suspected as a causal factor in a fatal collision, BC Highway Patrol’s Criminal Collision Investigation Team is activated to assist investigators due, in part, to the complexity of these lengthy and technical investigations.”
Anyone with information regarding this collision, including any dashboard camera video, is asked to contact BCHP Falkland at 250-379-2164 and cite file 2022-3607.