5 Students Died After A Fatal Crash On Highway 401 Over The Weekend
They studied in the GTA and Montreal area.
A fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 401 has left five people dead.
Ontario Provincial Police announced in a press release posted Sunday that on March 12 at around 3:45 a.m., officers from their Quinte West Detachment responded to an accident on Highway 401 between Aikens Road and St. Hilarie Road.
Police reported that a passenger van and a tractor-trailer crashed into each other.
Five people died as a result of the collision, and two people were sent to the hospital with serious injuries.
Police released the names of the victims of the crash, which were Pawan Kumar, 23, Karanpal Singh, 22, Mohit Chouhan 23, Harpreet Singh, 24, and Jaspinder Singh, 21. They were all pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities said that they were all students are from India and were studying at schools in the GTA and Montreal.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, who was alone in the vehicle, was not injured.
"#QWestOPP continues to investigate a two vehicle collision overnight which resulted in multiple fatalities. Further details to be released later today. Expect the westbound #HWY401 to remain closed near @quintewest for some time. Follow marked EDRs. #ONHwys," OPP tweeted on the morning of the crash.
In an earlier press release, Ontario police reported that both westbound lanes on Highway 401 between Glen Miller Road and Wallbridge Loyalist Road were closed for around 10 hours. The roads have since been reopened.
As of right now, charges have not been laid but police said in the release that the Quite West OPP Crime Unit is currently helping with the investigation of what had happened that morning.