Head-on crash, deer collision, claim three lives in separate incidents in B.C.

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Three people have died in two separate crashes Tuesday on Highway 5 in the British Columbia Interior.

RCMP Corp. Janelle Shoihet says the first crash happened just before 6 a.m., about 40 kilometres south of Kamloops when a southbound vehicle hit a deer and veered down an embankment.

Two people in the vehicle died at the scene and a third was critically injured and is being treated in hospital in Kamloops.

Just 30 minutes later, Corp. Madonna Saunderson says the lone driver of a southbound sedan died when the vehicle was hit head-on by a pickup attempting to pass a transport truck near Valemount, about 300 kilometres southeast of Prince George.

The driver and passenger in the pickup were injured but are expected to recover.

Both sections of Highway 5 were closed for several hours. (The Canadian Press, CHNL)