Three dead after fiery 14-car crash in Ontario
Posted November 1, 2017 6:24 am.
Last Updated November 1, 2017 10:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BARRIE (NEWS 1130) – Ontario provincial police say there are multiple fatalities after a fiery crash involving several vehicles on Highway 400 near Barrie last night.
The crash happened just before 11:30 p.m. local time, causing a massive fire and several explosions. At least 14 vehicles were involved in the crash, including two fuel tankers.
CityNews viewer Sid Daniels captured this video at the scene:
Three people are confirmed dead.
“There are cars everywhere, twisted transport trucks, destroyed vehicles, metal that is unrecognizable as to whether or not it is a vehicle at all or not. And that’s why we’re still looking to determine any other victims that may be inside the vehicles, which we haven’t been able to ascertain at this point,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told reporters at the scene.
“It really is the most unbelievable scene I think I’ve ever seen.”
Several people were rushed to hospital but their injuries are not life-threatening.
“As the fuel was flowing out of the trailers, which (were) split wide open, the fire was rolling down the highway and that’s why we initially actually closed the highway up at Highway 9,” Schmidt said. “People were running for their lives to not be encompassed by the moving fire that was on the highway.
Several vehicles that caught fire were reduced to metal shells. Emergency crews had to let the fire burn itself out, and water had to be trucked in because there were no fire hydrants in the area.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation, but Schmidt said initial inspections indicate that a transport truck may have collided into slowing traffic due to an earlier collision.
“About 40 minutes before this collision occurred, there was another three-vehicle collision that occurred just a short distance further north,” Schmidt said on Breakfast Television Toronto.
