National Post (National Edition)
MASSIVE PILEUP
More than 100 hurt in giant crash on Edmonton highway.
More than 100 people were injured in a massive multivehicle pile-up involving several semi-trailers and hundreds of cars south of Leduc near Edmonton Thursday.
Alberta Health Services said 22 people were taken to hospital, one in serious condition. Another 80 people with minor injuries were treated at the scene.
Stranded travellers were taken to the nearby town of Wetaskiwin. A kilometreslong stretch of Highway 2 was completely closed by a slew of disabled and trapped vehicles. Officials reported delays of up to six hours after slick roads and white-out conditions made travelling the road all but impossible.
Derek Fildebrandt, the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, was on his way to Edmonton by bus when the pile-up occurred.
“I was in the middle of writing my speech, just bitching about the budget, and all of the sudden there were 18-
Every 200 metres you’d see it was just carnage and
wreckage
wheelers flying around us,” he said. “Everyone could see out the windows and cars were narrowly avoiding us, flying around both sides.”
The bus driver told his passengers to sit down and buckle up as they waited to be hit by more vehicles from behind.
After the accident, Mr. Fildebrandt got out of the bus and walked for 10 minutes north and south, but saw neither the front or the back of the traffic mess.
“There would be another pile-up, almost like a wave and a crest,” he said. “Every 200 metres, you’d see it was just carnage and wreckage ... it just went on and on.”
He said he saw one man who appeared to have broken both legs; another was trapped under his car. Civilians, first responders and offduty police officers were quick to respond. Mr. Fildebrandt said he helped another man pull his flatbed truck out of a ditch. Then the two crossed over the median, doubled back and drove to Edmonton, using country roads.
Alberta Health Services, updating the situation via Twitter, said patients were being assessed in three Greyhound buses. Four transit buses were also sent to provide shelter.
The brutal storm has nearly crippled Edmonton, delaying public transit and closing roads. The Anthony Henday ring road was closed because of the poor conditions, as was the Yellowhead Highway, a major arterial route that connects Manitoba with the northern centres in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Police said they expected the routes to stay closed for several hours last night. The roads were so slick and visibility so poor, the Edmonton International Airport advised passengers not to try to drive and instead re-book their flights. The early-spring storm was expected to dump 25 centimetres of snow on the city and surrounding areas.