Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say a five-vehicle crash on Highway 401 between Kingston and Belleville on Wednesday night left one person dead, two others injured and other drivers and passengers stuck in the resulting backup.
In a social media post, the OPP said the collision involving a tractor-trailer and “several other vehicles” happened around 10 p.m.
Spokesperson Bill Dickson told CBC two tractor-trailers and three passenger vehicles were involved. One of the drivers of a smaller vehicle was killed and two other people were taken to hospital with non life-threatening injuries, he said.
Police went on to say officers from the Lennox & Addington County OPP had been working through the night to get motorists out of the resulting highway closure.
Dickson said that work was mainly police escorting drivers to one of the turns through the median or back to the previous exit, which would both be illegal for drivers to do on their own.
Westbound lanes of the highway were closed Wednesday evening from the County Road 4 exit to Millhaven to the County Road 5/Palace Road exit to Napanee. They were reopened around 3:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Dickson warned it may still be “slow going” in the area, because the extended closure contributed to backups before that exit and the previous one to Odessa, plus congestion on County Road 2 through Odessa.
The area is about 30 kilometres west of downtown Kingston and 45 kilometres east of downtown Belleville.