A man and a woman are dead following a two-vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Highway near Salisbury, N.B.
Police say a vehicle travelling westbound was struck by an oncoming car travelling the wrong way around 8:20 p.m. Thursday.
They say the driver of each vehicle, a 24-year-old man from Havelock and a 69-year-old woman from Grande-Digue, died at the scene.
Rachel Gauvin was the lone occupant in the vehicle that was travelling in the wrong direction on the divided highway.
Witness Philip Amero says he saw Gauvin minutes before the crash when he attempted to pass a large truck.
“As I started to go by it seemed like only a few seconds passed and there was lights right in front of me so I just slammed on the brakes, pulled back in behind the truck and then the car just zoomed by just a few seconds later.”
Police say the male victim, now identified as Chad Thorne, was travelling with his 25-year-old wife Heidi and two sons, Rowan, 4, and Landon, 3.
The woman and children were taken to hospital and Rowan was then airlifted to the IWK Health Centre with serious injuries.
He remains in hospital but his mother and brother have been released.
Amero says he it could have been him and his four-year-old daughter in the accident.
“If the truck would have slowed down that I was going to go past, I would have had nowhere to go and I would have definitely been the one in the accident for sure,” he says.
An RCMP collision reconstructionist is assisting in the investigation. Police won’t say how the driver ended up on the wrong side of the road, or whether alcohol was a factor.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
