A driver from Penner International was involved in a wreck Tuesday evening on the icy roads west of Swift Current. 

Swift Current Rural RCMP responded to the call along the Trans Canada Highway, near Beverley, at approximately 7:05 pm. Police arrived on scene to find a damaged tow truck and two damaged semi-trucks, including one from Penner International.

At the time of the incident, the heavy wrecker, belonging to Low Cost Towing of Swift Current, was hooked to the front of the semi unit via winch lines and was attempting to winch it out. The operator of the tow truck was underneath the winched semi unit repairing an air leak. 

A second semi-truck, a tractor-trailer unit, collided with the semi in the ditch and the tow truck, causing extensive damage to the wrecker and pushing the semi-truck the tow truck operator was working on, into the wrecker. 

As a result of the crash, three people were taken to hospital: the tow truck operator with injuries described as non-life-threatening; a passenger in the stuck semi with injuries described as serious but non-life-threatening; and the driver of the stuck semi, as a precaution.  

In a statement from Low Cost Towing of Swift Current, Owner Cindy Remple, said that after the incident, the operator immediately went to check on other individuals involved in the crash while another motorist on the highway that witnessed the accident called emergency services. 

"Our operator was taken to the hospital to get checked over and has been released and is at home with his family," she states. "He is scraped up pretty good and is very sore and bruised but will recover."

 

Icy roads at time of three vehicle wreck in SaskatchewanThe Trans Canada Highway was very icy at the time of the crash. (Photos credit: Low Cost Towing)

In Saskatchewan, the law states that drivers must slow to 60 kilometres per hour when passing a tow truck or service vehicle stopped on the roadside with its amber or amber and blue lights flashing while it is rendering assistance to a disabled vehicle, unless the truck is on the opposite side of a divided highway. 

The extreme weather conditions at the time of the collision led to treacherous road conditions and many road closures. 

"The highways were extremely icy at the time of the accident and all drivers should have adjusted speed due to poor conditions, but it was witnessed that the semi unit that struck our wrecker was not slowing and had just previously passed other trucks," Remple notes in the statement. 

The collision is still under investigation by the Swift Current Rural RCMP. 

With files from Ally Paige