Share this Story: Motorists helped to pull victims from burning vehicles in deadly Banff-Jasper crash Motorists helped to pull victims from burning vehicles in deadly Banff-Jasper crash Photo by CTV Edmonton Article content JASPER — Six people have died, including two tourists from the United States, following a highway crash in Alberta’s scenic Jasper National Park. The collision happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday on the Icefields Parkway near the Honeymoon Lake campground, about 60 kilometres south of the Jasper townsite. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Motorists helped to pull victims from burning vehicles in deadly Banff-Jasper crash Back to video A van carrying five members of a family from Louisiana and Texas was heading north when it collided with a southbound vehicle, causing both to start on fire, said RCMP Cpl. Laurel Scott. All four people in the second vehicle were killed but no details were available about their identities. Two of the Americans in the van died at the scene and two other members of the family were taken to hospital. Scott said a two-year-old in the van was not hurt. “Miraculously, a young toddler survived with no injuries,” she said Wednesday. CTV News said the dead included Angela Elkins of Louisiana and her son-in-law, Nick Copeland of Texas. Elkins’ husband, Curtis, and daughter, Sarah, were taken to Edmonton hospitals in serious condition. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Scott said a third vehicle drove off the road to avoid the wreck and two people in that car suffered minor injuries. Several passing motorists stopped to pull people out of the vehicles, she said, including a retired firefighter from Australia. Gagan Sidhu of Surrey, B.C., was travelling the highway with his wife and daughter when they saw black smoke and figured it was a forest fire. As they got closer and saw the burning wreckage of two vehicles, he got out to help. Some people were doing CPR, others were offering survivors juice and blankets, he said. Two men who were injured died as he was at the scene. Sidhu was handed a fire extinguisher and, with the help of a few others, put out flames that were spreading from the vehicles through grass toward some trees. “People really gave their all … to help out,” he said. RCMP Sgt. Rick Bidaisee in Jasper thanked everyone who pitched in. “Members of the public were enormously helpful in saving lives and helping everyone they could,” he said in a statement. The Icefields Parkway, officially Highway 93 North, is a popular tourist route, especially in the summer, for those travelling between the resort communities of Jasper and Lake Louise. Winding through the Rocky Mountains, the road passes by glaciers, waterfalls and turquoise lakes. Rob Jeffrey of Halifax was heading to Jasper with his wife and three young children Tuesday when Mounties closed the section of the highway to investigate the crash. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content While other motorists pulled out tents to settle in for the night, he and his family tried to catch some sleep in their rented minivan. The highway opened again around 6 a.m., said Jeffrey, and as they drove by the crash site there was nothing left to see but burn marks on the road. RCMP could not provide medical updates on the two Americans taken to hospital. STARS air ambulance service said a 26-year-old woman was flown to Edmonton in critical condition. Alberta Health Services said another woman was taken to Jasper hospital in stable condition. The accident comes after a deadly long weekend on Alberta highways which saw eight fatalities in three crashes. Three people were killed Sunday, including a five-year-old, after a truck and an SUV vehicle collided head on near Sylvan Lake. And early Tuesday, three people died when a car and SUV crashed on Hwy 22X near Priddis, southwest of Calgary. Also on Sunday two children were killed in a tractor rollover southwest of Taber. — By Chris Purdy in Edmonton Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Calgary Sun Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300 Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it please check your junk folder. The next issue of Calgary Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again Trending<doc-sep>One woman and three men who died Tuesday when their SUV struck a van in Jasper National Park have been identified as restaurant workers from Banff, Alta. Anand Singh Panwar, Pavan Kathiat, Ganesh Anala and Gelek Wangmo, 38, were killed in the head-on collision on Highway 93 near Sunwapta Falls, according to two friends and a GoFundMe campaign created to raise money for funeral costs. Two occupants of the other vehicle also died — a woman from Louisiana and her son-in-law from Texas. Deepak Bhatt, who was close friends with Panwar and knew Kathiat, confirmed the identities to CBC News. Bhatt said the four had left the Banff area and were driving to Jasper in Panwar's 2018 Hyundai Kona SUV. "I cannot believe he is no more," he said. "I just phoned him on Sunday night. My heart and my mind hasn't accepted it, this thing has happened to Anand." Panwar and Kathiat were roommates in the Rocky Mountains resort town and both worked at the local Masala Authentic Indian Cuisine restaurant, Bhatt said. Panwar was a chef there. Bhatt said Panwar's wife is in hospital, due to have their second child any day. She lives in India with their six-year-old son. Panwar moved to Canada four years ago from Kuwait to make a living so he could support his family. "He is a very nice person, very helpful person for anyone who needed help," Bhatt said. Panwar was supposed to travel to Vancouver next month to visit Bhatt and then continue on to India to meet his second child. Kathiat was engaged to be married in November. His fiancée also lives in India, according to Bhatt. Gelek Wangmo, 38, was one of six people killed in a two-vehicle collision on Tuesday near Jasper. (Khando Wangmo) Wangmo, who was also from India, worked part-time at the restaurant with the two men and also worked full-time as a housekeeper at the Rimrock Resort Hotel. After befriending the three men, the group would often hang out on their days off, said another friend. Panwar would drive Wangmo to her job at the Rimrock every day. "She was a hard-working person," said friend Khando Wangmo. "She was a nice person. She never thought about herself." Anala also worked in the Banff hospitality industry, at the Indian Curry House restaurant. Two occupants in the other vehicle, a van, were identified earlier. Angela Dye Elkins of Benton, La., and her son-in-law, Nick Copeland, who lived in Texas, also died in Tuesday's crash. Two other people in the van, Curtis Elkins and his daughter, Sarah Copeland, were taken to hospital in serious condition. The fifth passenger, a toddler, was taken to hospital in Jasper, but wasn't injured. After the crash both vehicles caught fire. A third vehicle went off the road when its driver tried to avoid the crash. The two occupants of that vehicle suffered minor injuries.<doc-sep>Family says thanks to people who helped victims of Alberta fatal crash Article content EDMONTON — The brother of one of the six people who died in a fiery crash in Jasper National Park is expressing gratitude to everyone who helped the victims of the tragedy. Tim Dye of Louisiana says the citizens, police and others who responded to Tuesday’s collision of a van and an SUV were brave and compassionate. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Family says thanks to people who helped victims of Alberta fatal crash Back to video Dye also thanked the nurses and medical staff who are treating the survivors. His sister, Angela Elkins and her son-in-law Nick Copeland died in the crash. Elkins’ husband, Curtis, and daughter, Sarah, are being treated in hospital for serious injuries. A toddler, Sarah and Nick Copeland’s son William, wasn’t seriously hurt. “To the citizens and the first people present at the scene, your bravery has left us in awe of how willing people are to help,” Dye said in a statement Friday. “To the RCMP and other first responders, thank you for serving us in this sensitive time with compassionate care while still doing your jobs and seeking information. Your level of excellence in working with us has been exceptional.”<doc-sep>
EDMONTON -- Two of the six people who died in a fiery crash in Jasper National Park have been identified by a friend as staffers at an Indian restaurant in Banff, Alta. Deepak Bhatt has set up a GoFundMe page to help Anand Panwar and Pawan Kathait's families deal with the financial challenges they face as a result of their deaths. "They both have their families in India. Anand has a boy of six years old and his wife is going to give birth to a new baby in a few days. She is in hospital," Bhatt said Thursday from Edmonton, where he is helping with arrangements to bring the remains back to India. The crash happened about 5 p.m. Tuesday on the scenic Icefields Parkway about 60 kilometres south of the Jasper townsite. RCMP say a van carrying five people was heading north when it collided with a southbound vehicle with four inside, causing both to catch fire. Bhatt said Panwar and Kathait were temporary foreign workers who were employed at Masala Authentic Indian Cuisine. He said he has known Panwar for 12 or 13 years and that his friend had applied for permanent residency. He said Kathait came to Canada less than a year ago and that while they'd never met in person, they'd gotten to know each other through online chats. Panwar and Kathait were from the city of Tehri Garhwal in northern India. The other two people who died in the vehicle have been identified in a separate GoFundMe page as Gelek Wangmo and Ganesh Anala. The van involved in the crash was carrying five members of a family from Louisiana and Texas. Prayer is requested tonight for a Bossier Parish family who has suffered a terrible tragedy. Curtis and Angela Elkins,... Posted by Congressman Mike Johnson on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 Angela Elkins and her son-in-law Nick Copeland died, says a Facebook post from Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson. Elkins' husband, Curtis, and daughter, Sarah, were taken to hospital in Edmonton in serious condition. A toddler, Sarah and Nick Copeland's son Will, survived with no injuries. Ronnie Remedies, a friend of the Elkins, said it was like a punch to the stomach when he got word of what happened. But then Remedies, a commercial real estate developer who also owns Shreveport Limousine, sprang to action to help bring the loved ones to Edmonton, where survivors of the collision are hospitalized. "Without even knowing how far it was, I said I'd make it happen," Remedies said from aboard his plane in Edmonton Thursday. Remedies said Curtis Elkins owns a pyrotechnics business. The two got to know each other about five years ago through their work in the wedding industry, as Remedies supplies the limousines and Elkins is frequently hired to set up fireworks. "They always have a smile on their face. And they're always just very, very friendly people -- good Christian people of faith," he said. Four family members were trying to fly to Edmonton on Wednesday, but the only commercial flights available would have had them arrive Thursday evening. So Remedies offered to fly them on his six-seater Beechcraft Baron twin-engine plane and helped them get passports within a few hours. "It certainly wasn't an easy thing to do, but it was the right thing to do," said Remedies. The relatives arrived at 2:30 a.m. Edmonton time on Thursday. "I knew they weren't going to go to sleep until they were with them, so that's why it was important for them to fly through the night and get them here." -- By Lauren Krugel in Calgary