One person airlifted to hospital after SUV rollover in North Okanagan

VERNON — One person was taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries, after a SUV rolled on Highway 97A in Spallumcheen this morning.

The small SUV was travelling northbound on the highway near McLeod Road in Spallumcheen just before 8 a.m. today, Jan. 28, when it went off the road, hit a culvert, rolled and burst into flames, according to an RCMP media release.

Police say all occupants were able to escape the vehicle before the SUV was engulfed by flames. One person sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to the nearest medical facility.

“Numerous citizens stopped to render assistance to the occupants of the vehicle keeping them safe until emergency crews arrived on scene,” Vernon North Okanagan RCMP spokesperson Const. Kelly Brett says in the release.

Speed, road conditions and impairment were not factors in the collision, police say. The highway was closed for a short period but has since been reopened.

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