On Sunday, February 11, 2018 at approximately 12:30 PM a multi-vehicle collision occurred on Highway 5 near Larson Hill, 32 kilometres south of Merritt. Multiple Emergency Services agencies responded to the incident which closed the north bound lanes for approximately 10 hours.
The incident involved six vehicles and one pedestrian, a 35 year old male from the Lower Mainland, who had stopped to render assistance at the initial collision and was struck and killed by another vehicle. A 78 year old male with critical injuries was taken by air ambulance to Kamloops, but his injuries have since been down-graded to “serious”. Two other people were transported to a local area hospital with minor injuries.
The cause of the collision is believed to be speed relative to road conditions and sudden changes in road condition in shaded areas of the highway. Merritt RCMP ask that anyone with information regarding this collision contact Central Interior Traffic Services