Two people hurt, one dead, after crash near Moncton
One woman is dead and a man and woman hospitalized after a head-on collision on route 126, 35 kilometres north-west of Moncton.
Capt. Marc Henrie with the Saint-Paul Fire Department said 14 firefighters from his station responded to the scene around 5 p.m. Thursday near Hebert.
When crews got there, a half-ton truck was on its side and in flames with two people still inside. A car was in the ditch with a woman inside.
Henrie said bystanders with fire extinguishers were trying to control the fire.
He said the woman in the car was declared dead on the scene by paramedics. The man and woman in the truck had to be rescued by cutting the roof off the truck and pulling them out.
"The driver had some more serious injuries and the passenger was fully conscious and alert," he said.
He said the woman was removed almost immediately, but it took longer to remove the male driver because his legs and feet were caught underneath the dashboard.
Henrie described it as a "pretty intense" scene.
"I've been to many motor vehicle accidents and some fatalities before and that's the first time that I've responded … to entrapments inside a truck that was burning," he said.
Henrie could not confirm the condition of the truck driver after he was taken to hospital, but Chief David Gallant with the Saint-Paul Fire Department said he sustained severe injuries.
Henrie also said he could not confirm the age or identity of the woman who died.
Route 126 near the intersection with route 515 in Hebert was closed from around 5 p.m. until around 8 p.m., according to RCMP tweets.
Henrie described the scene as a "disaster zone" because of the debris on the highway.
Gallant said the RCMP are still reconstructing the scene, so he does not know exactly what caused the collision.
"I couldn't tell you which way the vehicles were going," he said.
Henrie said at least eight firefighters from the Beersville Fire Department and three RCMP officers were on scene as well.
