Three semi trucks and a small white car were involved in a collision on the Coquihalla, between Kamloops and Merritt, Thursday morning.
Kelowna resident Duncan Taylor is lucky to be alive after the car he was travelling in narrowly missed smashing into the semi-trucks, instead his vehicle hit the ditch and flipped upside down.
“A semi was passing another semi, lost control and went sideways, then the truck that had been passed drove right into the sideways semi,” explained Taylor. “Our only option was to hit the ditch, it was better than hitting those semis.”
The chain-reaction crash then caused another collision behind Taylor’s vehicle.
RELATED: Coquihalla fully reopen after crashes send 29 to hospital
One of the semi-trucks, towing wood, had the top of its cab sheared off in the incident. The second, also towing wood, jack knifed in the ditch and tipped over.
Taylor and the driver of his vehicle say they are sore and shaken up but reportedly OK.
The semi-truck driver is reported to have a head injury.
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According to Taylor, the road was extremely icy at the time of the incident.
“When I got out of the car I could barely walk on the road,” he said.
A third semi was involved, somehow, explained Taylor and had a damaged bumper as a result of the crash.
Highway 5 was closed southbound for a period of time.
Taylor says he was on his way to an avalanche safety training course on the Coquihalla when the crash occurred.
UPDATE – #BCHwy5 #Coquihalla re-opened SB 5 km south of #BCHwy97D junction to #LoganLake, expect delays of up to 30 minutes in both directions due to vehicle recovery
— Drive BC (@DriveBC) March 1, 2018
More to come.
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