National Post (National Edition)
Carrot River ‘sombre’ after teens’ deaths
Four-vehicle collision
SASKATOON • The Saskatchewan community of Carrot River “just can’t seem to grasp” the deaths of three teenagers in a four-vehicle collision in a highway construction zone.
Three boys from Carrot River — ages 17, 15 and 14 — were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred late Sunday afternoon on Highway 6 near Melfort, Sask..
The popular teens were active in the tight-knit town of 1,000, about 289 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, taking part in football and drama, Carrot Lake Mayor Robert Gagne said.
“What can you say when you lose three young gentlemen in the prime of youth?” he said. “Losing three young, energetic gentleman, we just can’t seem to grasp that right now.”
Gagne said no funeral or memorial plans have been made. Instead, the community is simply giving the families a chance to grieve. “It’s shock here, absolute shock. It’s sombre here today on Main Street,” Carrot River town administrator Kevin Trew said.
The three teens were all students at the Carrot River junior-senior high school, where grief counsellors were brought in on Monday. “The community is always in a state of shock when you have children involved in a tragedy,” said North East School Division superintendent Rob McKay.
The teens were travelling in a Chevrolet Cavalier on Sunday when they came upon construction on Highway 6. The driver, the 17-year-old, stopped behind a Dodge pickup truck, driven by a 48-year-old man, in the northbound lane. A semi-tractor-trailer, with a 38-year-old Manitoba man, then crashed into the Cavalier from behind, sending it into the back of the pickup. The truck struck a 21-year-old B.C. man working as a highway flag person, continued across the highway and collided with a construction pilot vehicle.
The flag man was rushed to a Saskatoon hospital. He was in critical condition on Monday. The drivers of the Dodge truck, the construction pilot vehicle and the semi-tractor trailer were taken by ambulance to hospital in Melfort with minor injuries and have since been released.
Saskatoon RCMP traffic reconstructionists responded to the scene and are investigating. No charges were immediately laid.