Nova Scotia RCMP were searching for vehicle before deadly weekend crash

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

Nova Scotia RCMP were searching for a possible impaired driver in a vehicle that was involved hours later in a highway collision that killed five people over the weekend, police confirmed Monday.

RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay said in an interview that the vehicle was the same blue Honda Civic that crashed Saturday night on Highway 101 near Falmouth, N.S.

Tremblay said an extensive search for the car, that involved a number of officers in Kings and West Hants counties, was unsuccessful.

“We are looking for information from the public to establish the whereabouts of the vehicle between the time of the collision and the time of the possible impaired driver report and prior to that as well,” he said.

Tremblay said police received a call about a possible impaired driver around 7:20 p.m., and the crash occurred around 11:12 p.m. The vehicle was last seen at a restaurant on Highway 1 near the 11600 block in Grand Pre, N.S.

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“It’s the same vehicle that was involved in the report at 7:20 p.m,” Tremblay confirmed.

Investigators said in a news release Monday that physical evidence gathered at the scene of the crash indicates the Civic was travelling in the opposite direction of traffic in the eastbound lanes when it collided with a Nissan Sentra about 1.5 kms from Exit 7.

Tremblay said the highway is twinned in that area although the distance between the lanes is narrow with a fence.

“The vehicle (Civic) was travelling westbound, but to my knowledge at this time we don’t have information to indicate that they actually crossed the median,” he said.

The driver and passenger of the Civic, a 43-year-old man and 45-year-old woman from Falmouth, were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say the driver of the Sentra, a 45-year-old woman from Oxford, N.S., and a 58-year-old male passenger from Nappan, N.S., were also declared dead at the crash site.

Two other passengers in the Nissan, a 50-year-old man and 29-year-old man, were taken to hospital. The 50-year-old from Oxford was later pronounced dead. The 29-year-old man, who is from British Columbia, was listed in critical condition.

Tremblay had no update on the man’s condition on Monday.

He said the province’s medical examiner is involved in the investigation, but cautioned that it could be some time before any toxicology reports will be available to police.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2025.