3 dead in 20-vehicle pileup on 401

Accident began when trailer ‘bulldozed’ through cars near Ajax construction site

A 12-year-old boy is among three people killed after a massive 20-vehicle crash on the westbound Hwy. 401 at Brock St. near Ajax Friday night that left 16 others injured.

“It’s quite a scene down there. Scrap metal everywhere,” said Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP’s highway safety division.

The chaos appears to have begun when a transport trailer failed to slow down as it approached a construction zone on the highway and “bulldozed” through several vehicles in front of it, according to Schmidt.

“Vehicles are ripped apart. Some are unrecognizable as vehicles,” Schmidt said.

Five people were taken to hospital with critical injuries, while 11 others sustained less serious injuries. ORNGE air ambulance dispatched three helicopters to the scene while Toronto Paramedic Services sent three ambulance units and an ambulance bus to assist. The man and woman who were also killed were travelling in a separate vehicle from the boy, Schmidt said.

The OPP reopened the Hwy. 401 eastbound lanes at Salem Rd. about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Two westbound lanes at Brock St. were opened at about 3:45 p.m., with one lane remaining blocked for cleanup.

This is the second fatal crash on the 401 in less than two weeks. On Sept. 23, a crash caused by a transport trailer failing to slow down at a construction site near Harwood Ave. in Ajax left two people dead. With files from Brennan Doherty and Ramisha Farooq

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE/THE CANADIAN PRESS Smashed cars were flipped and tossed by transport trucks during the multi-vehicle crash late Friday night.