HOPE (NEWS 1130) – The Coquihalla has been re-opened after last night’s frightening crash which sent 29 people to the hospital.
A small army of first responders descended on the highway after a crash, which happened at about 8 p.m. near Hope. Over a hundred people were left stranded.
According to BC Emergency Health Services, two semis, two buses, and a pair of passenger vehicles were involved in the collision. At least one of those buses wound up on its side in the ditch.
First responders and highways crews worked through the night to cut people out of mangled vehicles, and transport 136 uninjured people to a warming centre in Hope.
The conditions of those hurt range from stable to critical.
“Thankfully, there were no fatalities as a result of this collision,” reads a news release from the RCMP’s Fraser Valley Traffic Services.
Constable Mike Halskov speaks for RCMP Traffic Services and tells us it does not appear that any of the drivers were drunk or high.
“In this particular case now, we have a situation where we have multiple vehicles with multiple passengers and drivers. It just becomes that much more complex because of all the people involved.”
‘It’s not a poorly designed road. People drive too fast on it’
Hope Mayor Wilfried Vicktor is praising all those who were involved with setting up the warming centre for everyone who was stranded as a result of the crash. “Hope’s a great community. Anytime there’s a need to help someone else, Hope certainly puts its best foot forward.”
Winter driving conditions are considered to be a major factor in the crash.
“It’s not a poorly designed road. People drive too fast on it. I’m not passing judgement on the incident yesterday — who knows what happened… but bottom line is speed is a problem on that roadway,” he says.
Greyhound, which had two buses involved in this crash, is also carrying out its own investigation.
Meantime, Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says she’s awaiting the results of an investigation into the crash.
Trevena says highway crews were on full alert during the winter storm and the accident area had been ploughed before the crash.
“They were ready for this bad weather, they worked extraordinarily hard, they were there, the road was ploughed just 20 minutes before the accident so a lot of work had gone into it,” says Trevena.
“We’re going to have to wait for the outcome of an investigation before we judge what the next step should be.”
‘The semi… it looked like it rolled on top of the car’
Graham Zillwood lives on Othello Road, about 100 meters from the crash site. He says he was watching TV last night when he heard a loud crunching sound, like the sound of a tree branch breaking.
“Then I see one semi coming down and he hit a vehicle — it was on the highway and knocked that vehicle down the embankment. Then the semi went down the embankment and rolled over. It looked like it rolled on top of the car,” he says.
Multi-vehicle crashes are fairly common on the Coquihalla, so much so that the reality show Highway Thru Hell is based on it.
“I’ve been here 14 years, and probably 13 years of those 14, I’ve called in very similar accidents,” Zillwood adds.
Northbound lanes on the Coquihalla re-opened overnight. Southbound traffic re-opened between Hope and Merritt at about 8:30 a.m. today.
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