UPDATE: Three-car crash closes Highway 97 north of Oliver

PENTICTON – A three-car crash on Highway 97 north of Oliver this afternoon completely closed the route four a couple of hours.

RCMP Sgt. Harold Hallett says the crash happened at about noon, Jan. 28, just south of the flashing warning light on the sharp curve along Vaseux Lake, about four kilometres north of Oliver.

Hallett says a northbound pickup is believed to have drifted across the centre line and clipped a southbound five-ton truck carrying lumber. The pickup spun around and was T-boned by a southbound pickup truck, which which was following the lumber truck.

The driver of the northbound pickup was airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital with undetermined injuries. Two occupants of the southbound pickup were taken to South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver and transferred to Penticton Regional Hospital with what are believed to be minor injuries.

Hallett says the preliminary Iinvestigation indicates a possible medical event took place, but has not yet been confirmed.

Highway 97 reopened to single lane traffic around 2 p.m.

Check with Drive B.C. for the very latest updates.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 1:01 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 to add preliminary information on the incident from RCMP.

— This story was updated at 1:46 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016 to add more information from RCMP and Drive B.C.