(CHATHAM-KENT, ON) On October 6, 2014, just before 8:00 a.m., Chatham-Kent Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers, Chatham-Kent Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and Harwich Volunteer Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle collision involving a single vehicle on Highway 401 near Kent Bridge Road.
For reasons unknown at this time, a Pontiac minivan travelling westbound on Highway 401 left the roadway, entered the centre median and then back into the westbound lanes, where it came to rest on its side on the highway.
There were three male occupants in the minivan. One of the passengers, a 33 year old from Windsor, was ejected from the vehicle. The driver, 37 years old, and the other passenger, 32 years old, both from North York, were trapped inside the vehicle. Officers and EMS personnel at scene assisted in freeing them from the vehicle. All three occupants were transported to a local hospital, where the driver and passenger remain at this time. Their injuries are being assessed by hospital staff. The passenger who was ejected from the vehicle has since been airlifted to a London hospital with life threatening injuries.
The OPP Technical Traffic Collision Investigation (TTCI) team attended at scene to assist with the investigation.
The westbound lanes of the highway were closed at Kent Bridge Road for approximately five hours while the investigation was being conducted. The highway is now reopened.
Further information will be released as it becomes available.