UPDATE: Hwy. 3 reopened to alternating traffic at about 12:30 p.m.
A severe motor vehicle accident closed Hwy. 3 near Hedley for several hours Saturday.
The accident happened around 7:30 a.m. on April 25, when a pickup truck collided with a what is believed to be a minivan about three to five kilometres south of Hedley.
 The remains of the minivan involved in the mva are barely recognizable. |
Both occupants of the pickup truck were injured, but not as severely as the lone occupant of the minivan, which rolled down a fifteen foot embankment, settling in a field next to the Similkameen river.
Crews from the Keremeos Fire Department used the jaws of life on both vehicles, but a witness on scene reports that it took over an hour to remove the driver of the minivan from the remains of his vehicle.
The minivan driver was then airlifted to either Kelowna or Vancouver by an waiting air ambulance that landed in the middle of the highway.
Both lanes of the highway remain closed at the time of this report, while RCMP traffic analysts investigate the scene. It is expected to be reopened soon to alternating traffic.
