One person is deceased after an early morning incident that left a car ablaze under the 68th Avenue pedestrian overpass at 200th Street in Langley’s Willowbrook area Sunday, April 16.
At 3:39 a.m., Langley Township firefighters were called out for a report of a vehicle fire on the west side of the overpass, said assistant fire chief Kevin Snowdon.
The car had apparently driven into a concrete wall and was under the western ramp that leads up onto the pedestrian overpass.
“Speed is believed to be a factor,” said Sgt. Barry Beales of the Langley RCMP.
The car caught fire, and Township firefighters arrived to extinguish it. They found heavy flames pouring from the vehicle.
While putting out the fire, the crews realized the driver was still inside, said Snowdon.
“The occupant was pronounced dead,” said Beales.
A collision reconstruction team with the RCMP was on scene Sunday morning.
It’s a mystery how and why the car ended up driving rapidly under the overpass’s ramp.
Beales appealed for witnesses who might have seen something around the time of the crash to call the Langley RCMP.
“If we could have some witnesses come forward, we would have a better idea,” he said.
The victim’s next of kin had not been notified as of Sunday morning, and the driver had not been publicly identified.
Southbound lanes of 200th Street were closed on Sunday from shortly after the arrival of the emergency crews through the morning hours, from 72nd Avenue south to about 66th Avenue. Beales said the lanes were expected to open by 10 a.m. on Sunday.
The pedestrian overpass was also closed and it’s unknown when it will re-open. Snowdon said that Langley Township’s public works department had been contacted to assess the overpass and whether it had been damaged.
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