One dead, others injured in head-on crash
carole.morris-underhill@ saltwire.com
@CMUnderhill
One woman has died, and several other people were seriously injured, following a weekend head-on collision near Sweets Corner in Hants County.
Ryan Richard, Brooklyn’s fire chief, said they responded to a two-vehicle collision around 1:13 p.m. Feb. 12.
“On my arrival, EHS and RCMP confirmed one person was deceased. We had several serious injuries in both vehicles. Extrication was required on both vehicles,” he said, noting the vehicles were in the same lane and interconnected.
The accident occurred along Wentworth Road on a relatively flat stretch, Richard said.
The road was closed at both ends to traffic, with blocking occurring near the West Hants Industrial Park and the Highway 14 intersection.
The road remained closed for several hours as firefighters worked to free the people from the vehicles and as an RCMP collision reconstructionist attended the scene.
At 6:53 p.m. the RCMP Nova Scotia Twitter feed announced the road had reopened.
“Our mutual aid system worked very well, with Windsor Fire looking after establishing a Life Flight landing zone and Hantsport Fire providing coverage for Station 2 in Three Mile Plains,” said Richard.
Life Flight landed at the Fundy Gypsum Company property on Wentworth Road and medics were transported to the scene.
An RCMP press release issued Feb. 13 noted the two East Hants women travelling in a black SUV suffered serious injuries and were transported by ambulance to hospital. The driver was 59 years old, the passenger was 63.
The 26-year-old Kings County man driving the other vehicle, a purple hatchback, also suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital by Life Flight. The passengers were a 20-year-old Kings County man, and a 29-yearold Kings County woman. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene while the 20-year-old man suffered serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to the hospital.
“There was a very challenging extrication — very graphic,” said Richard of the collision.
There were several new or young firefighters at the scene on Saturday. Richard said he planned to contact the Critical Incident Stress Management Team with the Fire Service of Nova Scotia to provide a debriefing.
“I’ll be reaching out to that team today to provide (assistance to) any of our members that are having a difficult time with the incident,” Richard said on Feb. 13.
The RCMP say an investigation into the collision is ongoing.