Family of five killed in head-on crash in rural Saskatchewan

Six killed in crash near Elrose Six people were killed in a head-on collision near Elrose on Friday night. Stephanie Villella reports.

A family with three young children known for touching lives in their small town has been identified among the victims in a fatal head-on collision on a rural Saskatchewan road.

Carissa and Troy Gasper from Rosetown, Sask. were in the vehicle with their three children, Kale, Shay and Max, a friend of the family confirmed to CTV Saskatoon. None of the family members survived.

Police have identified the other driver killed in the crash as a 71-year-old woman from Swift Current, Sask. Investigators say she was the only person in the vehicle.

The crash between two SUVs occurred Friday afternoon just north of Elrose, Sask., RCMP said.

Ellis Watson, a friend of the family, said the death of the Gasper family will be a “major hit” on Rosetown, a community about 115 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon with a population of just over 2,400.

“They have touched so many people here in Rosetown and in the surrounding area as well,” Watson said.

“Be it through sports or school, anything like that, or their jobs even too … They touched so many people in the community, and it's tough to explain.”

The RCMP described the incident as a head-on crash. The investigation is expected to take “some time” to complete, police said.

Police have not released the victims’ identities other than to confirm that a 26-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman, along with three children aged six, four and two, were killed in the crash.

The mayor of Elrose, Dennis Dixon, said the crash is heartbreaking.

"Any time that you have a crash like that anywhere, it's something you don't want to see," Dixon said. "It's a tragedy."

With files from CTV Saskatoon and The Canadian Press