Tragedy has struck early this Canada Day long weekend on Saskatchewan highways. Six people are dead after two SUVs collided head-on on Highway 4, approximately 6 and a half kilometres north of Elrose. A 71 year old woman was killed and was the driver and only person in one SUV. In the other SUV, killed, were two adults, a 26 year old man and a 28 year old woman and three children ages 6, 4 and 2. The highway was closed until the early morning hours Saturday and the highway is now open to traffic. Collision reconstructions were on scene even as late as 9 p.m. last night and the investigation into the cause of collision remains on-going. RCMP were called out around 4:35 p.m. Friday afternoon to the accident which shut down traffic in all directions. Two RCMP Traffic Reconstructionsists responded to the scene and their reports will take time to complete. The RCMP say they don’t plan on releasing the names of the deceased publicly.

Meanwhile, a three vehicle accident reported 1 mile west of Swift Current in the westbound lanes of the TransCanada Highway around 2:30 Friday afternoon was actually a 2 vehicle accident and injuries were minor. The accident is still under investigation and RCMP sent out notification around 7 p.m. last (fri) night that the highway had completely re-opened.