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By Kate Bouey

RCMP investigate after crash shuts Hwy 97 for hours

Jul 31, 2020 | 9:23 AM

Vernon North Okanagan RCMP are investigating after a major crash shut Highway 97 north of Vernon for hours last night, at the intersection of Meadowlark Road east of Swan Lake.

No one was seriously injured, according to an official at the scene.

BX/Swan Lake fire chief Bill Wacey says the two-vehicle crash occurred around 7:20 p.m. Thursday when a pickup pulled onto the highway and T-boned a northbound semi-trailer truck.

Wacey says the semi’s fuel tank was damaged leading to a “major fuel leak” while the pickup was punted into the ditch.

“The Ministry of Environment is part of the team looking for contractors to clean up the diesel spill,” Wacey says.

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The fire chief says the semi driver and the two people in the pickup were shaken by the accident but no one went to hospital.

He says traffic was re-routed down Old Kamloops Road and Pleasant Valley Road until the highway re-opened to single lane traffic around midnight, almost five hours after the crash.

Highway 97 fully reopened to traffic this (Friday) morning.

by Kate Bouey
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