5 dead in head-on collision in Chapais, Que.

A head-on collision be‐ tween a pickup truck and a van on Route 113, just out‐ side of Chapais, Que., has killed five people, ac‐ cording to Quebec provinci‐ al police.

According to the Sûreté du Québec, four people were in the van while the other vic‐ tim, a 45-year-old man from Chapais, was driving the pick‐ up truck. The passengers aboard the van included three men aged 47, 63 and 69, and a 60-year-old woman, as reported by Radio-Canada. They were all from the Cree community of Waswanipi.

Chapais is located in the Nord-du-Québec region, about 700 kilometres north of Montreal.

The collision happened at kilometre 338 around 1:15 p.m. The pickup truck devi‐ ated from its lane to hit the van. The road has been closed indefinitely in both di‐ rections.

Forensic identification technicians with the SQ are headed to the site of the crash to investigate the fire. Condolences pouring in The Cree First Nation of Waswanipi shared its condo‐ lences in a Facebook post Thursday evening.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who suffered losses and to the community as a whole," it says.

Chief Irene Neeposh said the four victims from Waswa‐ nipi were highly involved in the community.

"The accident which led to a tragedy caused us to lose four members: a teacher, a carpenter, a pastor and a pa‐ tient transport driver. It af‐ fects us all personally," she told Radio-Canada's C'est ja‐ mais pareil.

Quebec's Indigenous Af‐ fairs Minister Ian Lafrenière also expressed his condo‐ lences and reached out to Chief Neeposh, he told CBC News in a statement.

Other politicians like Pre‐ mier François Legault, Health Minister Christian Dubé and the Minister Responsible for the Northern Quebec Jean Boulet also shared their con‐ dolences on X, formerly Twit‐ ter.