Two people are dead after a head-on collision near Pickering early Saturday morning.
Police say an SUV was travelling in the wrong direction in the eastbound lanes of Highway 401 when it clipped another vehicle near Harwood Ave. in Ajax at around 2:30 a.m.
The vehicle then continued eastbound where it collided head-on with a red Mazda near Brock Road a short time later, police say. A third vehicle then rear-ended the red Mazda.
The 25-year-old driver of the SUV and the 33-year-old driver of the Mazda were pronounced dead on scene. The driver of the third vehicle suffered minor injuries.
Durham police say they received several 911 calls about the wrong-way vehicle and were attempting to intercept it at the time of the crash.
It is not immediately clear how the vehicle ended up travelling in the wrong direction in the first place.
“The witnesses called in saying there was a vehicle travelling obviously in the wrong direction on a controlled access highway and officers from the Whitby detachment immediately responded to try to intercept the vehicle but unfortunately we got there too late,” Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CP24 Saturday morning. “The investigation is still very early on. We are still trying to notify the families and get the information that we need.”
Only one lane of eastbound traffic is getting by on Highway 401 at Brock Road as police investigate.
