Charges have been laid following a crash near Deacon's Corner early Wednesday morning, involving four semis.
    
Tache Fire Chief Allan Rau says at 2:50 am, they were called to the Trans Canada Highway at Provincial Road 206. Rau says the call came down as three semis involved in the crash that were now blocking the westbound lanes.

While en route to the scene, Rau says they were notified that two of the semis were hauling hazardous materials. 

Crews arrived on scene to find three semis tangled together in the median ditch with a fourth semi a couple hundred metres to the west. 

"We did an assessment of the hazardous materials, found that everything is still safe, nothing was leaking from the stuff that was inside the vehicles," notes Rau. "So, we were lucky in that respect."

Rau would not specify what kind of hazardous material was on board but says that had it been leaking, that would have required the evacuation of buildings within 800 metres. 

Rau says highway conditions at the time were extremely icy.

"It was almost like a curling rink," he describes. "It was pebbled because of the way the moisture was coming down and the mist was coming down."

Rau says two individuals were transported to Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg by ground ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries. 

He notes Dr. Hook responded with its hazardous response team to pull the semis out of the ditch and clear the scene.

Meanwhile, according to RCMP, the crash happened as the result of one of the semi-trucks driving the wrong way down the Trans Canada Highway and colliding with the three other semis. 

Police say the driver, a 30-year-old male from Ontario, was issued a $672 ticket under the Highway Traffic Act for careless driving. 

RCMP say the highway was closed for a long period of time as they were waiting for daylight to ensure all the debris was removed from the highway and it was safe to drive on. According to Rau, one of the westbound lanes was reopened at about 9:30 am. 

Related Stories