FOG BLOG N.B. NEWS LOG: DEADLY CRASH NEAR JEMSEG OUTSIDE OF FREDERICTON KILLS 3!

3 killed in Trans-Canada Highway crash near Jemseg Questions raised about work zone safety, but RCMP say cause not identified yet Three people were killed in the crash early Tuesday afternoon on the Trans-Canada Highway near Jemseg, RCMP say.

A 55-year-old woman from Oshawa, Ont., and two New Brunswickers, a 54-year-old man from Greater Lakeburn and a 32-year-old man from Timber River, died at the scene, said an RCMP news release Wednesday.

Sgt. Andre Lauzon, spokesperson for the RCMP, said two people were also taken to hospital in critical condition but both are expected to live.

Four vehicles were involved in the crash: a transport truck, a delivery truck, a pickup truck and a minivan. The highway was closed in both directions after the crash at about 1 p.m. AT in a construction zone about 60 kilometres east of Fredericton. RCMP tweeted at about 10:15 p.m. Wednesday that the highway had reopened.

Lauzon was not able to confirm which vehicles the victims who died were in or where the drivers were headed, but he said the crash consisted of "three collisions, one after another."

"Two of the vehicles collided and then everything spun out of control with a total of three collisions," he said.

During the highway closure, traffic near the crash site was detoured onto Route 105 between exit 339 at Jemseg and exit 347 at Mill Cove.

Accident 'bound to happen' in construction zone

For some locals, the accident was no surprise.

Dennis Melanson lives in Sussex and frequently travels to Sheffield and the Fredericton area, passing through the construction zone where the fatal accident took place.

During a recent trip through on Sunday, two days before the crash, he made what turned out to be an eerie prediction.

"What caught my attention … was the traffic on it, the high rates of speed that people were travelling," Melanson said. "I said, 'Something bad's going to happen here.'"

Because of the construction, eastbound and westbound vehicles have been sharing one side of the highway, in lanes separated only by pylons.