Alberta dad and kids killed in accident

Photo: Google Street View

Hwy. 16 near Valemount

An Alberta man and his two young children have died in a collision near Valemount, that left his wife and a three-year-old child in hospital.

RCMP Const. Lesley Smith of North District Traffic Services says the driver of a minivan was apparently trying to pass a semi-tractor trailer when he lost control and swerved into the oncoming lane.

She says the minivan was T-boned by another semi, killing the man, a six-year-old and one of the two three-year-olds in the vehicle.

The woman and child are in stable condition in a hospital in Jasper, Alta., following the collision on Highway 16 near Moose Lake overpass, about 40 kilometres east of Tete Jaune Junction.

Smith says there have been 16 fatal collisions on the highway in the last year and that some of them were related to vehicles trying to pass on an unsafe stretch of the road, especially during unpredictable weather.

She says there are several designated passing lanes on parts of the highway.