Fatal Accident North of Swan Hills

Highway 33 was closed to traffic for just over five hours on April 8 due to a motor vehicle accident. The Swan Hills RCMP received a report of a single vehicle collision at 11:41 AM that morning close to the House Mountain Road turnoff from the highway, roughly 35 km north of Swan Hills.

When RCMP officers arrived, they found a Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV that had gone off the highway and rolled multiple times. There were three occupants from the vehicle present, one of whom had been thrown from the SUV. The High Prairie and Swan Hills fire departments, as well as EMS crews from both towns, were already on the scene.

Two male passengers (47 and 20 years old) were being treated for injuries, while the female passenger (32), who had been ejected from the vehicle, was quickly transferred to a ground ambulance for transport to the Swan Hills airport to meet the STARS air ambulance. Regrettably, she passed away from her injuries before reaching the airport.

Both male passengers were transported by ground ambulance to the Slave Lake Healthcare Centre for treatment and are expected to recover. The surviving occupants reported that there was a fourth occupant, the driver at the time of the accident, who had fled on foot into the surrounding forest. After a thorough search with the assistance of RCMP Police Dog Services, this individual could not be located.

An RCMP traffic analyst processed the scene of the accident. While this analysis is ongoing, they were able to discern that the vehicle had been travelling north along the highway before crossing over into the ditch on the west side of the road. It continued for a short distance before rolling an unknown number of times and coming to a rest right-side up.

This incident is still under investigation.

Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette