A driver who helped clear a lane for an ambulance rushing to a fatal crash on Highway 41 on Friday has told 650 CKOM that although he had driven in Saskatchewan his whole life, he had never seen road conditions like it.
Saskatoon man Gavin Rans said the whiteout conditions at the scene of the two-vehicle crash between two SUVs was “kind of like you hit a wall”.
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Whiteout conditions at the crash site on Highway 41 on Jan. 24:
(Video by Gavin Rans)
Melfort RCMP said in a news release on Monday that three people travelling in one of the SUVs died at the scene of the crash in the RM of Flett’s Springs around noon on Jan. 24.
The sole occupant of the second SUV was taken to hospital with what RCMP said were non-life-threatening injuries.
“It was not actively snowing at the time, it was just like these swirling clouds of snow that basically reduced visibility to almost nothing,” Rans said.
He helped get vehicles out of the way so an ambulance could reach the site of the crash.
Weather alerts from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) were in place for parts of Saskatchewan on Friday afternoon, warning of blowing snow and snow squalls moving through the region.
ECCC meteorologist Danielle Desjardins said on Friday a snow squall warning is fairly rare in the province.
The Highway Hotline said travel was not recommended on Highway 41 from Melfort to the junction of Highway 20 on Friday.
The Saskatchewan RCMP said on Monday collision reconstruction experts are investigating.
Moose Jaw Mounties investigate fatal rollover on Highway 1
A 48-year-old man from Dinsmore is dead after a fatal rollover on Highway 1, also on Jan. 24.
According to an RCMP press release on Monday, officers were called to the scene near Parkbeg just before 10 p.m. The driver, who was the vehicle’s only occupant, was declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
“Moose Jaw RCMP continue to investigate with the assistance of a Saskatchewan RCMP collision reconstructionist,” the RCMP said in a statement.
Fatal rollover on rural road near Carievale
A third crash on Jan. 24 claimed the life of a 33-year-old man from Argyle.
RCMP said in a news release on Monday that officers received a report about the vsingle-vehicle rollover on a rural road northeast of Carievale.
“The driver, who was the only occupant of the vehicle, was declared deceased by EMS at the scene,” the RCMP said in a statement.
— with files from CJME’s Roman Hayer and Lisa Schick
Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story the hometown of the man who died in the Carievale crash was misspelled. We regret the error.
Read more:
- Pleasant Hill anti-gang meeting not intended for public, police say
- Saskatchewan NDP calls for emergency sitting on possible U.S. tariffs
- Riders add Super Bowl and Grey Cup champion Shane Ray to defensive line