A head-on collision between two vehicles left no chance for the occupants on board on Thursday in Chapais, in Nord-du-Québec.
Four men and a woman lost their lives in the accident which occurred around 1:15 p.m. at the Chapais exit of Route 113, said the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
The circumstances are “still nebulous,” said Sergeant Hugues Beaulieu, information officer for the SQ. According to initial information, a van veered out of its lane and collided head-on with a van with four people inside that was coming in the opposite direction.
Following the impact, the van caught fire. This one, which belonged to a Cree organization, was returning to the Cree community of Waswanipi.
The driver of the van and the four people in the van — a woman and three men — were transported to the Chibougamau hospital center.
All of these people had suffered very serious injuries. The deaths of three people were confirmed late Thursday afternoon. A little later in the early evening, the SQ reported that the two other occupants had succumbed to their injuries.
Two reconstructionists from the SQ went to the scene to analyze the scene.
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