STARS Air Ambulance was called to transport a man in his early 20s from Chestermere to the Foothills Medical Clinic after a serious two-vehicle collision on Highway 564 near Range Road 284 on Dec. 12, according to EMS Spokesman Stuart Brideaux.
“A car on Highway 564 had collided with a truck entering Highway 564 and both vehicles ultimately ended up in the ditch on the north side of the highway,” Brideaux said. “The truck ended up completely over top of most of the car. The car was crushed and part of it was disintegrated. It was an extremely high impact collision.”
According to Brideaux, it took an hour for crews to free the driver of the Toyota truck, a woman in her mid-40s from Calgary.
“The extrication was made difficult not just by the damage to the vehicles and the instability of how they came to rest on top of each other, but also by the fact that crews just couldn’t manipulate the truck any way they wanted because there was a person stuck in the car underneath,” he said. “They had to be very careful.”
EMS were not able to reach the driver of the car, a Subaru, while the woman was being freed from the truck. However, Brideaux said the man was conscious and able to speak to paramedics throughout the incident.
“The woman was taken to Foothills in serious condition by ground ambulance,” Brideaux said. “She had predominantly pelvis or lower-body injuries.”
Once the woman was successfully removed from the truck, Brideaux said crews were able to remove the truck and work to free the man from the car.
“It was 90 minutes after the initial impact before we were able to free the male driver from his car at which point the ground crew assisted STARS in getting him packaged and ready for a flight,” Brideaux said. “He was transported by STARS to Foothills in serious, potentially life-threatening condition.”
According to Airdrie RCMP Media Liaison Constable Jason Curtis, Airdrie Rural RCMP and a Collision Analyst from Calgary attended the scene.
“At this time, it appears the Toyota attempted to turn left across the path of the Subaru,” Curtis said. “The investigation is on-going.”
Brideux said he was surprised no one was killed in the collision given the scene when he arrived.
“The damage was just so substantial. For most of the seasoned RCMP, fire and medics on the scene, few of them have ever seen greater damage in a motor vehicle collision and had people survive,” he said. “It’s really quite miraculous this wasn’t a fatality collision. There was a multitude of debris, fluids and vehicle parts strewn everywhere.”
