Death toll unknown in crash

Fiery wreck on Highway 63

A fiery collision between a tractor-trailer unit and a smaller vehicle proved fatal early Monday near Boyle, but officials are still trying to determine how many people were killed.

Around 4 a.m., a smaller vehicle travelling on Highway 663 entered Highway 63 and broadsided a tractor-trailer unit hauling gasoline, said Cpl. John Spaans of Boyle RCMP.

“The force of the collision caused a fire, a fairly extensive fire,” Spaans said.

Thick, black smoke billowed until crews extinguished it at 9 a.m.

The driver of the truck was taken to hospital and treated for injuries that are not considered life-threatening, he said, but there were no survivors in the smaller vehicle.

Investigators are working with the Edmonton Medical Examiner’s Officer to determine how many people were in the vehicle and their identities.

“We haven’t confirmed the type of vehicle, we think a van or SUV, but don’t quite know,” Spaans said. “We need for the scene to cool off before we can get too close.”

Boyle is about 160 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Since 1990, more than 150 people have died in crashes on the highway widely regarded as one of the province’s most deadly roads.

A fiery head-on crash that killed seven people in April 2012 spurred calls for the government to twin the 443-kilometre highway.

In response, Mike Allen, MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo was appointed special adviser to Transportation Minister Ric McIver.

Allen tabled a report for the highway with 22 recommendations and the government announced it would fast-track the twinning.

The $778-million plan would see a 240-kilometre stretch twinned, from Fort McMurray to Highway 55 near Grassland.

Eight passing lanes are scheduled to open this summer.

Speaking in Boyle earlier this month, Premier Alison Redford announced a traffic-enforcement unit for the town, consisting of 12 RCMP officers and four sheriffs, to target areas of the highway where crashes are common.