Three people were taken to hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Highway 19 near Bowser on Saturday night.
Police told media that impairment is believed to have been a factor in the crash, which followed witness reports of a driver going the wrong way in the southbound lanes.
One of the vehicles in the collision about a kilometre south of the Cook Creek Road intersection was engulfed in flames and destroyed, but the driver of the SUV was able to escape the blaze, said George Lenz, chief of the Deep Bay Volunteer Fire Department.
He said a Dodge Ram pickup truck also involved is likely “a complete write-off.”
B.C. Emergency Health Services said its paramedics were called to the scene on the Inland Island Highway at about 9:20 p.m.
Three ambulances with primary care paramedics and an ambulance with advanced care paramedics responded. Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to three patients who were transported to hospital.
The condition of the three involved in the crash wasn’t immediately known.
Lenz said RCMP are investigating the crash. Debris was spread on the highway and the SUV that caught fire ended up in the centre ditch.
The crash came after multiple witnesses reported to police that a driver was going the wrong way in the southbound lanes of on Highway 19, an Oceanside RCMP spokesperson told CHEK News.
“Shortly thereafter, that same vehicle was reportedly travelling southbound near Buckley Bay at a high rate of speed,” the RCMP said.
“According to witnesses, at about 9:18 p.m., the grey pickup truck was involved in a head-on crash with another vehicle, which came to rest in the ditch and subsequently caught fire.”
The highway was initially closed in both directions, and then in the northbound lanes with a detour via Horne Lake Road. It fully reopened just after 1 a.m. Sunday.
