An eight-year-old boy from the Nelson, B.C., area was killed when the vehicle he was travelling collided head-on with a snowplow amid treacherous conditions on Highway 3 near Castlegar on Saturday, police say.
The boy was travelling with his five-year-old brother in a green Kia SUV that was being driven by their stepfather when the collision happened near the Mackee Creek FSR junction just after 8 a.m. PT, B.C. Highway Patrol said in a release.
A 57-year-old Castlegar man was also seriously injured when he was hit by the SUV after the collision with the snowplow, police said. They said the man had been assisting people whose vehicles had got into trouble on the highway, which was icy with freezing rain.
The man remains in hospital with what police described as “life-altering” injuries.
The 44-year-old stepfather and five-year-old boy suffered minor injuries, police said, while the 65-year-old driver of the snowplow appeared to be unhurt.
The exact cause of the collision remains under investigation.
“The conditions at the time were terrible,” B.C. Highway Patrol Cpl. Michael McLaughlin told CBC News.
“But we need to know exactly what happened beyond the fact [the vehicles] were going head on when the collision happened.”
B.C. Highway Patrol is seeking witnesses and dashcam video to clarify the sequence of events.
“During the time of this collision the snowplow was working under contract, attempting to make the road more safe. It’s a tragic irony that this terrible collision happened while the roadway was being treated,” McLaughlin said.