A deep sadness settled over a small Alberta village on Tuesday as word spread that five of their residents, including a family of four, had been killed in highway crash near Hardisty.
All five victims of the Monday evening head-on collision were from Amisk, a village of about 200 people, said Mayor Bill Rock.
Among the dead were a local couple and their two children, aged nine and 12.
“It’s been a rough day,” one relative told CBC News. “We’ve just had a whole family wiped out.”
Rock said the village council has already started to discuss how best to remember the victims.
“They are very well known in the community — most of them lived in the community all their lives,” he said. “It’s so shocking and surreal that it’s very difficult to determine what we’re going to do yet.
“It’s going to affect our town significantly.”
The two-vehicle collision on Highway 13 at Range Road 92, southeast of Hardisty, happened at 7 p.m Monday.
All five occupants of the two vehicles were pronounced dead at the scene, RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.
Rock said the fifth victim also lived in the village. But RCMP said further details about the identity of the SUV driver will not be released until an autopsy has been completed.
Victims well-known in community
Longtime Amisk resident Don Anholt said the victims were well known in the village.
“We only have about 200 people in town and all of the victims lived right in the town of Amisk,” Anholt said.
“It’s not outsiders, it was all locals in a small community.
The village is about 24 kilometres southeast of Hardisty, in east-central Alberta.
“Everybody’s just kind of finding out, and nobody knows what to think or what to say, and
[everybody wants] answers about what happened.”
AN SUV caught fire before entering the ditch. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)
Police said a westbound SUV carrying a lone occupant crossed the centre line and collided head-on with an eastbound car carrying four occupants, RCMP said.
The SUV caught on fire and went into the ditch. Firefighters put out the blaze.
No further information is available about the driver of the SUV.
The eastbound car was driven by a 52-year-old man. His passengers were a 44-year-old woman and two children, ages 12 and nine, police said.
“Our thoughts are with the family members of the deceased, and the community of Amisk during this extremely difficult time,” said RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Ronald Bumbry.
RCMP continue to investigate. Killam RCMP victim services attended the scene and continue to assist, police said in a news release.
Road and weather conditions do not appear to have been factors, the release said.
Traffic on Highway 13 was rerouted after the crash but the highway has since reopened.
Hardisty is 200 km southeast of Edmonton.