By Niamh Scallan
One person is dead after an ambulance crashed into a van about 60 kilometres south from Prince George on Highway 97 Thursday evening.
According to RCMP Cpl. Craig Douglass, the B.C. ambulance was transferring a critically ill patient from a Quesnel hospital to Prince George when it collided with a van near Hixon just before 5:30 p.m.
Mounties and other emergency services were alerted to the crash arrived at the scene to find a power pole snapped in half by the ambulance. A natural gas line was also severed.
Fortis B.C. and B.C. Hydro were called to the area and residents of nearby trailer park — as well as anyone else in a 1/2-kilometre radius were temporarily evacuated.
The patient, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene. A doctor, nurse and two paramedics in the ambulance and five people travelling in the van escaped the crash with minor injuries and are expected to make a full recovery.
A stretch of Highway 97, a major provincial highway running north to south, remained closed Thursday night as emergency crews worked to clean up the site and repair the snapped power pole.
Douglass said Prince George and North District RCMP officers were at the crash site “until the wee hours of the morning,” collecting evidence to determine the cause of the crash. Officers remained at the scene until the highway reopened early Friday morning.
Police are asking anyone with information about the crash to call the Prince George RCMP at 250-561-3300 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
