Storm leads to one fatality

DIDSBURY - Didsbury RCMP responded to a multiple vehicle collision on Highway 2 near Highway 582 on Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. following a sudden snowstorm.

The collision involved six tractor-trailers and five other vehicles, and resulted in one fatality and several other people being sent to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, said Didsbury RCMP Cpl. Resus Organ.

Helping attend on scene with Didsbury RCMP were members from Olds RCMP, Carstairs Fire Department, EMS, traffic analysts and Innisfail Integrated Traffic Unit, said Organ.

"It was a busy night," he said. "We ended up closing the highway from 7:30 p.m. until roughly 6 a.m. in the morning. The northbound lane was closed that long, while the southbound lane we were able to open up sometime after midnight, two or three. The roads were sheer ice."

Organ said they were able to get assistance from several gravel trucks headed from Edmonton to Calgary to help clean up the area.

"They were a huge help," he said. "They had six trucks coming from Edmonton to Calgary to help out and they cleaned up our road before moving on to Calgary. We worked our way through clearing everything up. Everyone worked their butts off to get that highway cleared as soon as we could in that snowstorm."

The name of the deceased has not been released by police.