Woman killed in car accident

She was a longtime resident of Lark Harbour, says man at scene

Doug Joyce was headed down the bay to visit some of his family when he came upon the accident scene in York Harbour Tuesday morning.

A former resident of the south shore of the Bay of Islands town, one of his first thoughts was who might have been involved.

“Being from down in this area, it was kind of scary to come around that corner and to see all the lights flashing,” said Joyce, who now lives further up the bay in Mount Moriah.

“I know pretty much everybody in York Harbour and Lark Harbour.”

The head-on collision resulted in the death of a 74year-old woman.

Joyce knew who it was. He said he knew the woman’s husband better, but had in the past met and spoken with the woman who had died.

“She was a nice woman,” he recalled, as emergency personnel continued to work around the two mangled cars on the snowy road.

The woman’s husband was driving their Hyundai sport utility vehicle (SUV) when it collided with a Subaru SUV headed in the opposition direction.

The two people in the Subaru, along with the dead woman’s husband, were all transported to Western Memorial Regional Hospital for treatment of their injuries.

An RCMP officer at the scene said he did not know how serious the injuries to the three were.

The RCMP could be reached later in the day for an update.

Besides the police, volunteer firefighters from the south shore towns of York Harbour, Lark Harbour and Humber Arm South, were called to the scene.

The Corner Brook Fire Department’s services were also requested to extricate the man driving the Subaru.

The RCMP said the emergency call had been received at around 9:30 a.m. Road conditions at the time were wet, slushy and snow-covered. The area was also subject to localized snow squalls, which may have reduced visibility at the time of the accident.

The south shore highway had to be closed for several hours until the accident scene could be processed and cleaned up.

The cause of the accident is under investigation, the RCMP said in a news release issued Tuesday afternoon. The police the woman’s identity would not be released Tuesday.

Joyce, whose brother was among the volunteer firefighters to respond, said the accident is going to have an impact on the small community.

“It’s going to be hard,” he said. “They lived in Lark Harbour for a long time.”