'A tough call mentally': Three men killed in two-vehicle crash near Arthur: OPP

Three young men are dead and a fourth person has life-threatening injuries following a two-vehicle crash near Arthur on Wednesday night.

Wellington County OPP responded to Wellington Road 109 near Sideroad 12 at around 8:30 p.m.

Const. Joshua Cunningham confirmed to CTV News that a semi-trailer and a work van collided.

He said that two men were pronounced dead at the scene and two others were rushed to local hospitals with life-threatening injuries, where one man was also pronounced dead.

According to police, all three deceased were occupants in the van.

Police released their identities Thursday evening. The deceased are Gurinder Jeet Singh Lidder, 31-years-old of Mono, Karanpreet Singh Gill, 22-years-old of Barrie and Sunny Khurana, 24-years-old of Brantford.

The driver of the semi was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Fourteen firefighters from Mapleton and a crew from Arthur worked together on the complex extrication. Four ambulances were also called to the scene.

“All of our members on scene helped in various degrees,” said Leanne Swantko, deputy chief of the Guelph Wellington Paramedic Service. “This call had significant extrication involved, so it was a really tough call on our team physically, a tough call mentally.”

“In these types of tragic events, there are things put in place to look out for the mental health of those first responders,” Cunningham said.

Wellington Road 109 was closed in the area for the police investigation on Wednesday night. The road had reopened by 10:15 a.m.

Officials said an air ambulance was dispatched, but called off because of the weather.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

OPP is asking anyone who witnessed the collision to call 1-888-310-1122.