Pictou County man suffers life-threatening injuries after ladder flies off vehicle

A 42-year-old Pictou County man is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after an incident on the Sunrise Trail.

Emergency crews responded to the scene in Three Brooks, located about 10 kilometres west of Pictou, after 11 a.m.

The RCMP say a ladder flew off the side of a Bell Aliant utility vehicle and struck the windshield of an oncoming pickup truck as the vehicles met.

The truck driver was taken to the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow and later airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax.

The driver of the utility vehicle was shaken up but wasn’t injured.

Police say driving conditions were clear and the utility vehicle will be inspected closely.

“Since it was a service vehicle, we’ll call in some partnerships with workplace safety committees, just to make sure that everything was … working the way it should have, and that this couldn’t have been avoided,” says RCMP Sgt. Kevin Dunley.

The incident remains under investigation. There is no word on whether charges will be laid at this time.