Elderly woman dies after Highway 1 crash near Chilliwack

A single-vehicle crash on Highway 1 in Chilliwack, B.C., claimed the life of a 74-year-old woman on Sunday and closed the busy route for much of the day.

B.C. Highway Patrol says the crash happened just before 1 p.m. PT, when a grey Ford Focus travelling eastbound left the highway near Prest Road and rolled into a ditch. The woman, who was from Agassiz and the only person in the vehicle, died at the scene.

“At this early stage of the investigation, there are no indications of overt criminality,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin of B.C. Highway Patrol in a statement Monday morning.

The collision forced authorities to close the highway for nearly eight hours while investigators examined the site. DriveBC reported that the route fully reopened to traffic around 9 p.m.