2 men charged after separate multi-vehicle crashes on Trans-Canada Highway

Slippery roads caused multiple crashes in western Manitoba Thursday morning,including one involving four semi-trailer trucks and a pickup truck west of Brandon.

A 41-year-old driver from Saskatoon has now been charged in connection with that crash, RCMPsaid Thursday afternoon.

And a 31-year-old Winnipeg man also faces a charge in connection with a separate pileup on the Trans-Canada Thursday.

Sgt. Paul Manaigre, a spokesperson for the RCMP, said no life-threatening injuries were reported as a result of the first multi-truck crash, which happened shortly after 7 a.m. west of Brandon. The southwestern Manitoba city is 200 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

According to an RCMP release, a line of westbound semiswere stopped along the highway because of weather conditions when a semidriving on the road slowed down to pass them.

Another semi moving past wasn't able to slow down, lost control and collided with the other semis and a pickup truck, police said.

A photo attached to a Manitoba RCMP tweet showed a load of lumber spilled across the road.

A male passenger of one of the semi tractors was taken to hospital in Brandon with non-life-threatening injuries, and the 40-year-old driver of the pickup truck was airlifted to Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. He's in stable condition.

A 41-year-old man from Saskatoon has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act for imprudent driving. The charge comes with a fine of$203.

That wasn't the only multi-vehicle collision on the Trans-Canada Thursday morning.

Further along Highway 1, another semi-trailerwas unableto slow down while passing stopped traffic and collided with a semi in front of it. Thecrash caused a pileup that blocked Highway 1.

One male passenger from that crash was taken to Brandon Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A 31-year-old man from Winnipeg was also charged with imprudent driving under the Highway Traffic Act.

Both crashes are still under investigation.

Winter blast

As a result of the crashes, a70-kilometre stretch of Highway 1 was closed from Brandon west toVirden, Man., Thursday morning.Manaigresaid slippery roads caused a handful of other collisions on the same stretch of highway.

Early Thursday afternoon, hesaid all eastbound and westbound lanes of the highwayhad been reopened.

Brandon got more than five centimetres of snow on Wednesday, with a light snowfall starting in the mid-afternoon but becoming heavy around 11 p.m.