Four-vehicle collision near Oyen leaves one woman dead, several injured

By Jeremy Appel on December 29, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

A four-vehicle collision Thursday near Oyen resulted in the death of a woman from Banff, police say.

Oyen RCMP Const. Kirk Fisler attributed the accident, which occurred on Highway 9 near Range Road 60 around 11:30 a.m., to icy road conditions, with a freezing drizzle advisory having been issued for portions of eastern Alberta that morning.

“Weather was a very large factor in the collision,” he said.

According to an RCMP news release, “Initial investigation has revealed that an eastbound truck crossed the centre line into the path of a westbound car on Highway 9. Two other westbound cars then collided, sending one of the westbound cars into the ditch.”

In addition to the fatality, which was declared on scene, there were two people with serious and three with minor injuries.

The injured people were taken “all over,” said Fisler.

“We had a couple brought to the hospital here in Oyen and then they were transferred to Medicine Hat, and from Medicine Hat they were transferred to Foothills (Hospital in Calgary). And then we had some more who were brought into Medicine Hat for treatment there.”

Another incident occurred on Highway 9 just 20 minutes later.

It was a single-vehicle rollover, with only minor injuries to the occupant, who was taken to Medicine Hat for an MRI, Fisler said.

Traffic is back to normal as of Thursday night, he added.

“The roads were opened up last night around 10:30 or 11 p.m. I believe sanders had been out making sure there was sand and salt on the roads to do their best attempts to render them more drivable,” said Fisler.

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