Police confirm fatality in crash on Hwy 97C on Saturday

Photo: Mike McLoughlin

RCMP have confirmed that a collision on Highway 97C Saturday night near the Pennask Summit claimed one life.

RCMP Cpl. Mike Halskov tells Castanet, "this was a non-criminal fatal crash in which a passenger was killed. Police are considering speed relative to conditions, inadequate tires and poor road/weather conditions at the time as contributing factors in this crash."

The crash occurred between Elkhart Road and Sunset Main Road, about 12 kilometres west of Pennask Summit at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday and resulted in the highway being closed until 6 a.m. Sunday.

A passerby stopped to help during the crash and he told Castanet that he made his way down to the mangled vehicle.

“I called out to anybody inside the vehicle, which was overturned and quite mangled,” Mike McLoughlin said, “I heard a call from inside the vehicle so I got down on my hands and knees and brushed the snow away ... [The driver] was trapped, they were stuck. They had a seatbelt wrapped around them and they couldn't unhook it.”

“I stayed with the guy who was trapped in the vehicle and just told him help is on the way,” McLoughlin said. “There was not much I could do other than to just hold his hand.”

Emergency crews arrived and fire crews were forced to cut the driver from the vehicle.