RCMP are crediting witnesses to a fiery crash on Highway 63 for saving the lives of at least four people late Monday.

 

Maurice Poirier was driving home just north of the Highway 55 junction near Boyle around 7:30 p.m. He said the driver of the tanker truck behind him was trying to make a turn when the breaks of the truck locked and the tanker jack knifed. That’s when two vehicles travelling behind the truck smashed into it.

 

“I ran to the car to see the injuries and tried to get the people out,” he explained.

 

One of the vehicles had four people in it. Poirier said he saw two stumble out but two more were stuck.

 

“The young boy in the back was strapped in, he couldn’t get out of his seatbelt so I cut in the seatbelt, got him out,” he stated.

 

Poirier said he and others in a group of witnesses managed to get a 21-year-old woman out. By the time she was safe, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames.

 

“Then I got in my own pickup to push the burning car away from the tanker so no more accidents would happen,” Poirier said.

 

That move might have saved even more lives according to RCMP. Officers tell CTV News there was danger the tanker could have caught fire possibly causing a massive explosion. The witnesses’ quick thinking prevented that.

 

“I didn’t think, I reacted. I just did what had to be done,” Poirier admitted.

 

Three of the people were taken to Edmonton by STARS or fixed wing aircraft in serious condition. Investigators say the woman, 21, and two males are related to one another.

 

The fourth occupant, the driver of the semi and the lone occupant of the second vehicle were taken to area hospital.

 

The person in the second car suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

 

The highway was closed for nine hours. Investigators are still trying to determine a cause but say they don’t believe alcohol was a factor in the crash.

 

This crash is just the latest on the deadly highway. There have been numerous collisions in the exact spot where the crash happened Monday – one was fatal in 2012.

 

The complete twinning of Highway 63 is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2016. 

 

With files from Brenna Rose