CHATEAUGUAY, Que. — Alcohol was not a factor in a head-on crash that killed four people and injured four others south of Montreal, Quebec provincial police said Tuesday.
Sgt. Daniel Thibaudeau said it appears a vehicle driven by an 80-year-old man entered Highway 30 in the wrong direction and struck a sport utility vehicle heading west.
"The investigation into what happened will take many weeks," he said. "We don't have any conclusions yet. What we know is we can exclude alcohol as a factor for the 80-year-old driver."
The crash occurred shortly after midnight Tuesday in Chateauguay.
An 82-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy were also in the car that police suspect entered the highway from the wrong direction.
They and the 80-year-old driver were all killed, as was a 56-year-old woman in the passenger seat of the SUV.
Thibaudeau said the five people in the SUV were from Ontario, but he didn't have details.
The driver was a woman in her late 20s, and another female passenger was in her early 20s.
Also in the car were a woman in her early 50s and a man in his mid-70s.
Thibaudeau said he didn't know if any of the four injured had left hospital but said authorities did not fear for their lives.
"They suffered fractures and internal injuries," he said. "The collision was really hard."
