Deadly Highway 63 claims 2 more lives

Two people died Friday morning on a notorious stretch of highway north of Fort McMurray, and another has been sent to hospital,RCMP said.

Police said two pickup trucks were involved in a head-on collision on Highway 63 at the turnoff to the Suncor plant at about 7:15 a.m., killing the driver and the passenger of the southbound vehicle. The driver of the northbound truck is in hospital with unspecified injuries.

No other details about the crash have been released.

Highway 63 is the main link between Edmonton and the booming oilsands developments in the north of the province.

Political leaders and labour leaders from the area have been lobbying for years to get the highway widened to four lanes.

In December, three people died in separate crashes along the highway.

Between 2001 and 2005, there were more than 1,000 collisions on the road, killing 25 people and injuring 257 others.

The province started work twinning about 16 kilometres of the road in 2007, and has committed $820 million for the project.