Driver details truck quickly crossing centre line in deadly Bishop's Falls crash
CBC
A driver on the road during a fatal head-on collision of two transport trucks is sharing a first-hand account of the accident in the hope that affected families can get more information on what happened.
Tony Champion lives in British Columbia, but was driving through Bishop's Falls on the night of June 22. He was behind one of the trucks that would be involved in the accident, and remembers seeing the approaching truck coming closer and closer.
"This other truck came over the crest. It seemed like it was doing OK, then I start seeing the truck come over the lanes and go right into the Day & Ross truck that it was in front of me," Champion told CBC News.
"It just hit the other one and just crawled right over it."
The head-on collision killed both drivers and closed the highway for several days as debris needed to be cleared off the road.
Champion said he thinks a medical emergency could have caused the crash, saying the truck that drifted into the centre line seemed fine until a sudden shift in its trajectory. An official cause has not been determined.
"It seemed like the truck just came directly over the hill and just fell like gravity…. It was horrific, really horrific," he said.
"It was no way that anyone was going to survive that. It was just like a bomb went off…. It was just one big crunch and scrunch and bang. Then it smoldered a bit and then all of a sudden it just burst into flames and exploded. It was terrible. Terrible."
Champion said he was prompted to tell his story to help the affected families learn more about what happened. His brother-in-law died in a truck crash in 2016 that had no witnesses, leaving his family without answers about the crash.
"In the morning you wake up and it's the first thing you see. It's something that you need to process and try to get through," he said.
"What I wanted to do was make sure the families know that this truck came over the hill and had some kind of emergency."
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a farewell message to Canadians Thursday as he marks his last full day in office.
The Association of Yukon Fire Chiefs says about 80 per cent of volunteer firefighters in the territory are wearing expired protective equipment, putting them in danger and in violation of occupational health and safety regulations when they respond to emergencies.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will be given a new portfolio in Mark Carney's cabinet, a source with knowledge of the decision told Radio-Canada.
The Alberta government has suspended a loan program at Picture Butte Feeder Cooperative, the province's largest cattle financing cooperative, after an inspection alleged a number of financial mismanagement and regulatory issues.
If you look up at the sky late, late Thursday in the Toronto area, there's a chance you'll be able to see a total lunar eclipse and what's called a blood moon.
When wintertime calls, go where it's warm.
Colby Leamon had lost a close family member, and was looking for a dog to provide emotional support.
The cost of a 24-pack of beer could increase $3 to $5 because of 25 per cent tariffs on aluminum exported to the United States, according to a craft brewery in northern Ontario.
Fire tore through a seafood processing plant in Cape John, N.S., on Wednesday night.
Another of New Brunswick's new municipal councils has become embroiled in drama and bitter conflict.
Tardiness is nothing new at Via Rail, but late arrivals are reaching historic levels in a key corridor since passenger trains have been forced to slow down at hundreds of rail crossings operated by CN Rail.
Walmart Canada will stop selling machetes — a type of weapon frequently used in violent crimes — in stores across the country, after Manitoba's government pressured the retailer to restrict online sales.
The parents of two 15-year-old girls at Evan Hardy Collegiate in Saskatoon say they went to police and the school multiple times between June and August 2024 with concerns about escalating online threats from the student now accused of setting one of the girls on fire in a school hallway.