The northbound lanes of Highway 19 at Hamm Road near Black Creek were closed for several hours Saturday evening after a serious crash sent three people to hospital.
“When I arrived on scene there were two vehicles. It looked like it had been a t-bone accident,” said Oyster River Fire Chief Bruce Green. “We had one person trapped in one vehicle and two other people in the other vehicle and from my triage the person in the vehicle that was entrapped was the most serious patient.”
Firefighters used the “Jaws of Life” to extricate the victim as paramedics worked to stabilize him.
Fortunately, medical help was already there.
“When I arrived there were two nurses on scene and they were helping deal with the patients and they let me know that he was unconscious,” added Green. “During our extrication he regained consciousness and was talking and verbal which was a good sign.”
Police haven’t confirmed what happened but it appears one vehicle was northbound and one was southbound making a left hand turn and was hit by the northbound vehicle.
The most seriously injured man was transferred to the Courtenay Airpark by ground ambulance before being flown to Victoria by air ambulance.
The two people in the other vehicle were also taken to hospital for observation.
An RCMP crash analyst attended the scene and the highway did not reopen until after 10:00 Saturday night.
Dean Stoltz
