'Never seen a fire like that': 1 killed, 9 injured in 14-vehicle crash north of Calgary
Witness says he dodged a bullet by just minutes
One person was killed and nine people were injured after a 14-vehicle collision north of Calgary late Tuesday night, RCMP said in releases.
Police responded to a section of Highway 2 — the Queen Elizabeth II Highway — near Highway 72 about two kilometres north of Veterans Boulevard just after 10 p.m. The scene is north of Airdrie, which is about 20 kilometres north of Calgary.
"Preliminary information has determined that a commercial vehicle including a trailer, along with five sedan cars, four pickup trucks, three SUVs and a passenger van were involved in this incident," RCMP said in a Wednesday morning release.
"Details of the cause of the collision remain under investigation, primary factors appearing to be weather and road conditions. As a result of this collision injuries were reported resulting in nine passengers from various vehicles being transported by ground ambulance to area hospitals for various non-life threatening conditions."
As of about 11:30 a.m. MT, police said one northbound lane had been opened, and traffic was moving through the area slowly.
A witness to the event says he dodged a bullet.
"Pretty lucky," Mike Crampton told CBC News in a phone interview.
"I was playing board games with a friend and if I had left a couple of minutes earlier, I probably would have been in that."
Crampton was heading north to his home in Didsbury when he came across the scene.
"I honestly wasn't sure where I was on the highway, the fog was so thick you couldn't really see any landmarks. I pulled into an exit lane thinking it would get me off the highway. Turns out that was where the Tim Horton's and the Esso and the Humpty's used to be, right by Crossfield there," he said.
"There was a semi-truck with a digger on it that was on fire. Ten, 12 vehicles just piled up. Lots of people standing around. There were people getting treated for minor injuries that I could see. I've never seen a fire like that. I can't imagine how that got started and they were having a hard time getting that fire out."
Police have not identified the fatality.
RCMP warned motorists to expect hours-long delays near that section of highway.
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