A passenger is dead after a single-vehicle rollover was followed by a crash with a transport truck on the westbound lanes of Highway 401 in Chatham-Kent early Tuesday. Police are not yet sure whether the death resulted from the initial rollover or the secondary collision.
Ontario Provincial Police say officers were en route to the rollover crash between Kent Bridge Road and Communication Road just after 1 a.m. Tuesday when they learned that there had been a second collision.
Police say a transport truck struck the vehicle that had rolled over and the transport then crossed the centre median into the eastbound lanes before coming to rest in a field.
Whether the passenger died as a result of injuries sustained in the rollover or injuries sustained in the crash with the transport is not yet known.
There were two people in the vehicle that rolled over and both were taken to hospital, police said. The passenger, a 41-year-old from Leamington, was pronounced dead in hospital while the driver was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
The transport truck driver was the only one in that vehicle and was not injured in the crash, police said.
The highway was completely closed in both directions between Kent Bridge Road and Communication Road for roughly nine hours.
The investigation is ongoing and police say anyone with information or video can contact Elgin County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.