Eight people have been sent to hospital following a serious rollover on the Toronto-bound Queen Elizabeth Way in Burlington, Ontario Provincial Police say.
Two people are in critical condition, one person is in serious condition. The statuses of the other five passengers are unknown at this time. The rollover happened around 2:30 p.m. on the Toronto-bound side of the highway.
Sgt. Kerry Schmidt, who is on scene, says the single vehicle collision caused passengers to be “on different parts of the highway.” Schmidt added that multiple people were ejected from the vehicle.
“At least two of the victims that were ejected actually came to a rest on the opposite side of the highway and fortunately and amazingly were not driven over by anybody else coming along in the opposite direction, who wouldn’t have been anticipating a body flying out in front of them,” Schmidt said.
“That is incredibly fortunate. Certainly it could have resulted in even more significant injuries.”
All Toronto-bound lanes are closed on the Queen Elizabeth Way at Guelph Line and Brant Street, but the westbound QEW lanes are now open at Walkers Line.
“Unfortunately this will be somewhat of a lengthy investigation due to the fact that patients were located in different locations across the highway here,” Schmidt said in a video posted to Periscope on Tuesday afternoon.
“We will be looking into all sorts of causal factors, including mechanical issues, human factors and environmental conditions as well as seat belt use.”
All Toronto-bound lanes were closed at Guleph Line for several hours, but reopened at around 6:30 p.m. The Fort Erie-bound lanes were closed at Walkers Line but reopened at around 5:30 p.m.
