PENHOLD – A 62-year-old Edmonton truck driver is dead after his semi burst into flames following a two-vehicle crash late last night on Highway 2.
The crash occurred at about 11 p.m. on Jan. 22 along the southbound lane just south of Highway 42 when the semi struck a parked tow truck that had stopped to assist a motorist.
Innisfail RCMP Sgt. Lori Eiler said Innisfail and Blackfalds RCMP responded to the collision.
Eiler said the crash caused the semi truck to catch fire, trapping the driver.
“The driver was deceased at the scene,” she said.
Eiler said there were no other fatalities or injuries.
Gary Leith, chief of the Innisfail Fire Department, said when the call came in shortly after 11 p.m. five units were dispatched, including two engines, a tender, and rescue and command trucks.
He said when emergency crews arrived the semi was on fire, with the severely damaged tow truck thrown in the ditch and lying on its roof.
“The tow truck would have appeared to have been trying to remove a car that had broken down on the shoulder (of the highway),” said Leith, adding there were no injuries involving the tow truck driver and the motorist being assisted.
“The semi, subsequent to impact, was involved in severe fire. Unfortunately the driver of that vehicle did not survive,” he said, confirming the semi driver was trapped in his vehicle. “We brought the fire under control. The (semi) trailer was not loaded at the time. It was empty.”
He said firefighters remained at the scene until 3 a.m.
Eiler said it’s unknown at this time if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the deadly crash.
She said a section of the southbound lanes on Highway 2, between highways 42 and 590, was closed to allow police to conduct their investigation, which included the work of a collision analyst.
Eiler added traffic was rerouted through Penhold on Highway 42 and south on Highway 2A to Highway 590.
Eiler said the crash remains under RCMP investigation.
