Two pedestrians dead following a pair of motor vehicle collisions

Two people are dead after two separate collisions involving pedestrians and vehicles on Friday near Merritt.

RCMP Constable Blake Chursinoff of the Merritt detachment reported that on Friday night at approximately 8:18 p.m., members were dispatched to a report that a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle on Highway 5 between Exit 286 and 290.

When officers attended, they located a deceased male who had been hit by an oncoming vehicle. The vehicle was occupied a family headed to the Lower Mainland for the weekend. The driver of the vehicle remained on scene and has been fully cooperative with the police investigation. Highway 5 southbound lanes were closed while the Merritt RCMP conducted a collision investigation.

Then at 8:25pm on Friday night, while a Merritt RCMP officer was on route to the collision on Highway 5, they came across another pedestrian motor vehicle collision that occurred at 2702 Nicola Avenue.

Unfortunately the struck pedestrian was also located on the roadway, deceased.

The vehicle was occupied by a single driver who remained on scene and was cooperative with the police investigation. Nicola Avenue between Houston Street and Menzies street was closed while the Merritt RCMP conducted a collision investigation.

The Merritt RCMP can confirm that neither collision had any criminal element involved, and both collisions are independent occurrences of each other.

“Two very tragic occurrences occurred within minutes of one another. The evidence states that both of these collisions occurred independently and are not connected in any way. At this time we are thinking of the families of the two deceased pedestrians, and also each of the drivers and families who found themselves involved in such a tragic incident on Friday night” says Cst. Chursinoff.