Seven people were killed Friday and two others seriously injured in what's being called a horrific crash on one of Alberta's deadliest highways.
RCMP say a northbound pick-up truck with three people inside, was attempting to pass a vehicle on highway 63 just north of Wandering River, when it collided head-on with a southbound pick-up truck carrying six occupants.
Information on the deceased is not available at this time, however, investigators say that a 34 year-old man, and a young boy are among those injured. They were all air-lifted to Edmonton-area hospitals, but the extent of their injuries is unknown at this time.
Three of those killed were traveling in the northbound truck. One of the occupants included a teenage girl who was pulled from the burning pick-up by passing motorists before emergency crews arrived on scene. She was one of the injured who was airlifted to hospital, but has since succumbed to her injuries.
Police said blowing snow and low visibility were making conditions on the Highway 63 poor, and travel was not recommended in the area.
"I do.. know road conditions were unfavorable at the time," said Cst. Christina Wilkins of the Wood Buffalo RCMP.
The stretch of highway was closed until about 9:30 Friday evening.
The highway is a busy route stretching north of Edmonton to Fort McMurray and north to the oilsands, where thousands of people work and tonnes of material and equipment moves daily.
Between 2001 and 2005, more than 1,000 crashes killed 25 people and injured 257 others on the highway.
Last year, the provincial government and Athabasca County invested $1.3 million to hire more emergency responders to cover the route.
In 2006, after years of public pressure, the Alberta government announced that it would twin a 240-kilometre stretch of the road. As of October 2009, only 16 kilometres had been twinned.
The mayor of Fort McMurray, Melissa Blake, says the twinning process has not been moving fast enough.
"Reflecting on those years that have passed in between and the number of lives that have been lost, when you have a head-on collision, there's absolutely no comprehensible reason that lives wouldn't have been saved by having a twinned road," Blake said, "so ultimately what's the price of a human life versus the time that is taking to do this?"
Blake also said she would like to express her deepest condolences to anyone who has lost a loved one on the road.
"It's not just about the lives that are lost, it's also about the lives that are left behind," she added. "And right now we have seven more lives that are lost so condolences go all around."
With files from The Canadian Press
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