22-year-old dead, 18-year-old in critical condition after Highway 8 crash

A 22-year-old man is dead and an 18-year-old is in hospital in critical condition after a two-vehicle crash on Highway 8 on Thursday evening.

A Gimli RCMP officer was driving north on the highway, near Riverton, when he witnessed the collision at about 6:45 p.m.

A vehicle headed north had passed the Mountie at a high speed before colliding with an SUV that was turning west onto Provincial Road 329 from Highway 8.

The driver of the first vehicle, an 18-year-old man from Arborg, was rushed to hospital by a helicopter ambulance with injuries RCMP describe as serious and life-threatening.

The SUV driver, a 22-year-old man from Arborg, was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, a 21-year-old woman from Arborg, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Local RCMP and traffic officers are investigating the collision.