The reeve of a western Manitoba community said a fatal car accident that killed five area residents will be difficult to grapple with for some time.
Bill Gade, reeve of the Municipality of Swan Valley West, said the news sent shockwaves through the community.
“Almost everybody knows one of them,” he told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“A lot of people have been discussing, starting Saturday night, the fear of everybody who was there and then as you slowly find out who the people were, a lot of people remembering them, remembering their interactions, and just asking, ‘Why?’”
On Saturday evening, Swan River RCMP went to a portion of Highway 83 near the community of 4,000 for a single-vehicle rollover. Officers and first responders found that an SUV was going northbound when it went into the ditch and rolled into a field.
Two women and three men, ranging in age from 25 to 42, were not wearing seatbelts and were pronounced dead at the scene, RCMP said Sunday.
Gade said the stretch of highway where the incident occurred isn’t known for accidents as the road is in good shape.
“This particular area has usually been pretty good.”
Manitoba has recorded a high number of fatalities on provincial roads this year, including the deaths of 17 seniors in a fiery crash on the Trans-Canada Highway near Carberry, Man., in June.
A total of 89 people have died on Manitoba roadways so far this year.
RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Paul Manaigre said not wearing seatbelts has been a reoccurring theme in 2023 incidents.
“A lot of these deaths were preventable had they been wearing a seatbelt,” Manaigre told 680 CJOB Sunday afternoon.
Speed is believed to be a factor in the Saturday evening accident.
Meanwhile, Gade said the community will be mourning their neighbours in the coming days and weeks.
“Everybody has a story of how they knew those people,” he said. “There’s people that just won’t be there anymore. … It’s going to leave a big hole.”
Mounties continue to investigate the crash.
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