A three-vehicle collision Friday morning left two people dead and shut down a section of a busy highway south of Sherwood Park.
RCMP said the crash happened on Highway 21, south of Township Road 514 near the Belvedere Golf & Country Club.
A semi truck and two other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said.
Alberta Health Services said EMS responded to the multi-vehicle collision involving six people.
A 42-year-old woman and 45-year-old man were taken to hospital in stable condition.
Two children were assessed by emergency crews but did not need to be transported, AHS said.
A 21-year-old female resident from Strathcona County and a 40-year-old female from Fort McMurray were pronounced dead on scene, RCMP said in a statement Saturday morning.
RCMP said an update would be released later with more information.
A view from the Global 1 news helicopter showed all of the vehicles involved appeared to be heavily damaged and in a field beside the highway.
The semi and its trailer, which appeared to have been hauling sand or another dirt-coloured material, was flipped on its roof.
At least one passenger vehicle had a tarp over it.
Jerry Bauer, owner of the Esso gas station just down the highway from the crash scene, came upon the crash as he was headed to the store around 10:30 a.m.
He saw the upside-down semi surrounded by emergency vehicles.
“When you see something like that, it’s always scary,” Bauer said. “Emergency vehicles, they were just everywhere.”
Bauer said it’s a busy highway that sees a lot of truck and passenger vehicle traffic.
Strathcona County asked drivers to avoid the area. As of 12:30 p.m., the county said Highway 21 was closed at Township Road 514 and Township Road 511, and Township Road 512 was also closed to the east and west of the intersection with the highway.
The county later said the closure was expected to last well into Friday evening.
No other details were available.
— More to come…
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