Vehicles stuck northbound for several kilometers behind area of head-on crash on Coquihalla Friday evening near Inks Lake turnoff/via Cassidy Delaney on Facebook
BC Highway Patrol has confirmed that two people are dead following a head-on crash along the Coquihalla south of Kamloops on Friday evening.
RCMP have confirmed that a vehicle reported to them headed south out of Kamloops — but in the northbound lanes — would slam head-on into an oncoming vehicle around 9pm last night, just a couple of kilometers south of Kamloops near the Inks Lake turnoff.
“A vehicle driving the wrong way on the Coquihalla Highway has led to a double-fatal collision, and BC Highway Patrol is looking for more witnesses and dash-camera video to determine exactly how the tragedy unfolded,” stated the RCMP in a release Saturday morning, a few hours after the route was cleared.
“Police received calls about a vehicle driving the wrong way in the northbound lanes on Highway #5 just south of Kamloops,” confirmed the BC Highway Patrol through information from the Tk’emlups RCMP detachment. “Minutes later, and before police could intercept the wrong-way driver, a grey Dodge Ram pickup and a white Hyundai Kona hatchback collided head-on.”
[Click to Expand] View of approximate area where head-on crash would have taken place on Friday between two vehicles, one headed in the wrong direction southbound in the northbound lanes near the Inks Lake turnoff/via Google Maps
“Police are investigating the possibility that criminal behavior caused this tragic collision,” said Corporal Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol, without elaborating.
“We need every available witness who can tell us what the drivers were doing in the minutes and hours leading up to this collision.”
Mounties are looking for anyone who may have dash-cam footage, or who may have seen the vehicles involved, to reach out to the Kamloops RCMP detachment.
