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UPDATE 3: Accident near USCC hall on Highway 3 in Grand Forks

There was an accident by the USCC hall in Grand Forks yesterday afternoon.
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There was an accident today near the USCC hall in Grand Forks.

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Editor's note: More information from RCMP added, including clarification of age of Castlegar male and more information about male driving truck and trailer.

An elderly couple from Castlegar was involved in a major accident on Highway 3 last Wednesday (July 3), which closed of Highway 3 for part of the afternoon.

The accident occurred by the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ (USCC) hall at the Highway 3 and Community Centre Road area of Grand Forks.

Staff Sgt. Jim Harrison said Grand Forks RCMP received the call around 1:08 p.m.

“Basically we had a (2001 grey Chrysler Sebring) driven by an 86-year-old male from Castlegar. Unexplainedly, he crossed over into the oncoming lane and struck a (grey 2012 Toyota Tundra) and trailer that was in the opposite turning lane that had pulled over to the side. The Castlegar man’s 79-year-old wife was with him in the car and both of them received injuries and both were transferred to Trail hospital,” Harrison explained, adding that the male was complaining of chest pains and was initially treated at Boundary Hospital in Grand Forks for a broken femur.

Members of Grand Forks Fire Rescue had to extricate the couple from their vehicle with the Jaws of Life, Harrison said. The male, 62, from Peachland, B.C., operating the truck and trailer, suffered only minor injuries from “being bumped around.”

Harrison said a third party was involved but thankfully, the driver and vehicle were OK – RCMP didn’t have any details on where the person was from or make and model of the car.

“The third vehicle involved was in the oncoming lane. When these people crossed in front of them, managed to avoid the collision by swerving in behind the truck and trailer and ended up going through a ditch and coming out the parallel road (thought to be College Road) and ended up with no injuries and no damage to his vehicle – very fortunate,” said Harrison.

As of Monday, there had been no updates on the condition of the couple, according to Harrison, and it had still not been determined why the car veered into the oncoming lane.



Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
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