It was a morning of mayhem in the Sea to Sky as two separate incidents caused emergency crews to rush to Highway 99 while leaving drivers at a standstill.
At 10:45 a.m., police received two back-to-back calls regarding problems on Highway 99, one involving a head-on accident and another over a rockslide.
"[The calls] both came in simultaneously," said RCMP Cpl. Dave Ritchie.
Police initially thought the incidents were related, but soon discovered the collision occurred at Deeks Creek, south of Porteau Cove, while the rockslide occurred north of Porteau Cove.
Highway servicing crews with Miller Capilano quickly informed police the slide was small and could be cleaned up while they directed traffic around the debris without police assistance, said Ritchie.
"It was not a rockslide, more like a pebble slide," he said. "There was some rocks on the road but our members were on route and Miller Cap dealt with it."
However the collision was a more serious incident.
A northbound Volkswagen van carrying two people hit a southbound pick up truck with a lone driver head-on, causing the truck to roll over.
The two van passengers are believed to be from the Lower Mainland and had to be removed using the jaws of life, said Ritchie. They were transported to Lower Mainland hospitals by air ambulance along with the driver of the truck, who is a Squamish resident.
Police aren't releasing the names of the victims pending family notification.
The accident left both south and northbound drivers at a standstill for nearly two hours."We closed at 10:45 a.m. and opened to single lane alternating [traffic] just a few minutes ago," said Ritchie at 12:25 p.m. today.
Police hope to have both lanes of traffic open by 1 p.m., he said.
Police have not yet determined the cause of the accident.
