5 Students Died After A Fatal Crash On Highway 401 Over The Weekend

A fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 401 has left five people dead.

Ontario Provincial Police announced in a press release on Monday that on Saturday, March 12 at around 3:45 a.m., officers from their Quinte West detachment responded to an accident on Highway 401 westbound between Aikens and St. Hilaire roads.

Police reported that a passenger van and a tractor-trailer crashed into each other.

OPP said that five people in the passenger van — Pawan Kumar, 23, Karanpal Singh, 22, Mohit Chouhan, 23, Harpreet Singh, 24, and Jaspinder Singh, 21 — were pronounced dead at the scene. Two others from the van were sent to the hospital with serious injuries.

Authorities said that the deceased were all students from India who were studying at schools in the GTA and Montreal.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, who was alone in the vehicle, was not injured.

"#QWestOPP continues to investigate a two vehicle collision overnight which resulted in multiple fatalities. Further details to be released later today. Expect the westbound #HWY401 to remain closed near @quintewest for some time. Follow marked EDRs," OPP East Region tweeted on the morning of the crash.

In an earlier press release, Ontario police reported that both westbound lanes on Highway 401 between Wallbridge Loyalist and Glen Miller roads were closed for around 10 hours. The roads have since been reopened.

As of Monday morning, no charges had been laid, but police said in the release that the Quinte West OPP Crime Unit is currently helping with the investigation into what caused the collision.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.