Mother, 8-year-old daughter killed after vehicle hit by semi west of Altona: Manitoba RCMP

A 35-year-old woman and her eight-year-old daughter are dead after their vehicle was hit by a semi that failed to stop at a southern Manitoba highway intersection, RCMP say.

The two-vehicle collision happened around 7 p.m. on Friday, at the intersection of Provincial Road 201 and Provincial Road 306, about 13 kilometres west of the town of Altona, RCMP said in a Saturday news release.

Their investigation has determined that a semi-trailer travelling eastbound on PR 201 failed to stop at the intersection. It hit a southbound SUV driven by the 35-year-old woman, who is from the rural municipality of Rhineland, which surrounds Altona, about 90 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her eight-year-old daughter, who was a passenger in the SUV, was taken to hospital, where she died from her injuries.

"It's brutal. It's absolutely ridiculous.… This is extremely tragic. A husband's lost a wife, a daughter. I can't imagine," said the Manitoba RCMP's Sgt. Paul Manaigre.

Manaigre said a witness to the crash who had been travelling behind the SUV told RCMP she slowed down because she saw the semi approaching the intersection at high speed.

"She started to slow down and the SUV in front of her … kept going," he said.

A spokesperson for STARS, an ambulance service for rural and remote communities in the prairies, said first-responders were dispatched to the scene of the crash and transported one person in critical condition to Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. RCMP said they transported the 8-year-old daughter.

Meanwhile police said the driver of the semi, a 25-year-old man from Brampton, Ont., was taken to hospital, where he was treated for injuries and released. 

RCMP are still investigating, but say charges are expected.