2 separate crashes on the same Sask. highway kill 5, including infant, 2 children

Five people, including two young children and an infant, were killed in two separate crashes just hours apart on the same western Saskatchewan highway Friday afternoon, police say.

The first was a crash between a van and truck on Highway 4, between Cochin and North Battleford, around 12:45 p.m. on Friday, RCMP said.

Three people in the van from Flying Dust First Nation — a 48-year-old woman who was driving and two boys, ages five and six — were killed. One other van passenger and the driver of the truck, who was the only person in that vehicle, were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, police said.

The second crash, reported around 3:15 p.m., was between a motorhome and an SUV on Highway 4, roughly seven kilometres south of Battleford, at approximately 3:15 p.m. 

The RCMP said the driver of the SUV, a 29-year-old woman, and a six-month-old boy in that vehicle were killed. Both were from Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

One of the other passengers in the SUV, a boy, was taken by STARS air ambulance to hospital. A man who was in the SUV was also taken to hospital. Both had serious injuries, police said.

The driver of the motorhome and a woman who was a passenger in that vehicle were also taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The families of all the people involved in the crashes have been notified, RCMP said.

Local fire, emergency medical services and STARS air ambulance teams responded to both crashes, and police are working with the RCMP's collision reconstructionist to investigate.