An elderly man is dead after a massive multiple-vehicle crash in Markham on Monday afternoon.
York Regional Police said as many as six vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction pileup near the Markville Mall at McCowan Road and Highway 7 shortly before 12:30 p.m.
Police say the crash occurred when a cube van towing a small excavator T-boned an SUV. Police confirmed the driver of the SUV was declared dead at the scene.
"As the cube van reached the intersection with the trailer he lost control completely," Const. Rebecca Boyd said.
The name of the driver has not been released.
An ambulance was quickly dispatched to the location, and a woman was rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Another driver, Winston Galloway, said he was about to turn left into the mall when his car was hit. His car was the first to be struck by the cube van in the chain-reaction crash.
"All at once there was a great big thump on my car and I thought, ‘Wow, what was that?'" Galloway told CTV Toronto.
Teresa Anastasopolous, who was hit next, said she was looking in her rear-view mirror just before it happened.
"The truck was coming fast and he looked like he was unstable and the next thing you know, he hit my car, he hit the guy across from me and then hit the white car," she said.
"It was just fast, it was really fast. It's sad, it's tragic."
Highway 7 is closed in the between McCowan Road and Bullock Drive while police investigate.
With files from CTV Toronto's Tamara Cherry.
