Minivan airborne when hit by oncoming tractor-trailer
Two teenage brothers from Moncton were killed last night after their mini-van collided head-on with a tractor-trailer on the Trans-Canada Highway on the northern outskirts of the city.
RCMP identified the two victims as Joel Roop, 17, a student at Mathieu Martin High School, and his younger brother, Daniel, 15. The school he attended was not identified.
The brothers were the lone occupants of the van and were travelling east on the four-lane Trans-Canada when the mishap occurred shortly after 6:15 p.m. between the Gorge and Mapleton Road exits.
An RCMP officer at the scene said the minivan left the road and veered sharply onto the grass median that separates the east and west-bound sections of the high-way. The van was literally 'airborne' when it crossed directly into the path of a tractor-trailer heading west on the Trans-Canada.
The van was demolished upon impact, with pieces of the vehicle strewn up to 100 feet in the westbound lane.
A hydraulic rescue device had to be used to cut the bodies of the two brothers out of the minivan.
The front part of the tractor-trailer was ripped open and the windshield smashed, but the driver was uninjured.
Traffic had to be rerouted to the Gorge and Mapleton roads from that stretch of the Trans-Canada in both directions for the next several hours. RCMP said there will be no charges stemming from the accident.
Road conditions were dry and visibility was good at the time of the crash, police said.