Witnesses raise questions about response in fatal Highway 5 crash

Though comforted by passersby who stopped to help, three survivors of a fatal crash between Fort Smith and Hay River earlier this month almost lost hope that an ambulance would arrive.

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The single-vehicle crashhappened on Highway5 on the morning of May 13. Some time between 8:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., the driver lost control on the wet highway and the vehicle rolled. There is no cellphone coverage in the area and no other way of calling for help.

One woman,who does not want to be identified, said she was travelling from Fort Smith to Hay River for a Mother's Day brunch with her husband when they came upon the scene. She said two peoplehad already stopped to help.

Ayoung woman who had been in the front passenger seat had been thrown from the vehicle and was in the bush with very serious injuries, witnesses say. The driver was dead. Two passengers who had been in the back seatwere seriously injured, shivering and cold, one sitting next to the damaged car and the other sitting on the side of the highway.

In a bid to call for help, the woman's husbandsped off to get in cellphone range.It was almost 40 minutes of driving above the speed limit before he got a signal and made the call. As he was on the side of the road, he noticed a friend of his daughter's driving from Hay River to Fort Smith.

He flagged 18-year-old Taylor Tuckey over and warned her of the accident ahead of her. Tuckey continued on to the scene.

"I just had my first aid, so I did my best to stay calm for them," she said. "I just wanted them to be as comfortable as possible."

But the two victims on the side of the road were beginning to lose hope.

"They were just really cold and really worried and like, 'When is the ambulance going to get there? And is anybody coming?" said Tuckey. "They were getting to the point where, like, 'Is anybody even going to come for us?'"

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Accident location may have caused confusion

Confusion about the location of the accident may have cost valuable response time.

The town of Hay River's director of protective services said they were initially told the accident was 115 kilometres from town, but it turned out to be 155. The distance between the two communities is 272 kilometres. That means the accident would have been 117 kilometresfrom Fort Smith.

Tuckey said she checked her odometer before leaving the scene and it was 115 kilometresto Fort Smith from the accident scene.

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If that's where the accident occurred, it means the Hay River ambulance crew had to travel 76 kilometres farther to the scene and back to the hospital than an ambulance from Fort Smith would have to travel there and back to the Fort Smith health centre.

In a news release two days after the accident, the RCMP said it occurred 140 kilometres from Fort Smith. The RCMP later said that was an estimate and that the actual mileage was 126.9 kilometres. An RCMP official said it took the RCMPless thantwo hours to get from Fort Smith to the scene.

Still, there's a standing order to Hay River first responders to not travel more than 10 km/hr above the speed limit.

The ambulance from Hay River arrived just ahead of the Fort Smith RCMP, according to those who stopped at the scene.

Tuckey and the other passerbysaythere should be some way of calling for help midway between the communities.

They want to see a satellite phone or a device to make emergency calls in cases where people need help along the more than 100-kilometrestretch of highway between the two communities, where cellphones do not work.

Timeline

• Approximately 8:30 a.m.to10 a.m.: Vehicle with four occupants loses control and rolls on highway after leaving Fort Smith for Hay River. Accident occurred 117 kilometresfrom Fort Smith, and155 kilometresfrom Hay River, where there is no cellphone coverage.
• 10:30 a.m.: Coupledriving from Fort Smith to Hay River arrives at scene and stops to help. Husband drives for almost 40 minutes to get into cell range to call for police or ambulance.
• 11:31 a.m.: Fort Smith RCMP getcall about accident.
• 11:48 a.m.: Ambulance dispatched from Hay River hospital.
• Approximately 1:20 p.m.:Ambulance from Hay River arrives at scene, begins treating survivors and prepping them for return drive to Hay River.
• 1:29 p.m.: Fort Smith RCMP arrive on scene.
• 3:45 p.m.: Ambulance with injured survivors arrives at Hay River hospital.