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VIDEO: One man dead after fiery crash at Peace Arch border crossing

Police say two vehicles involved, and southbound Highway 99 has re-opened to traffic
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Two vehicles caught fire at the Douglas/Peace Arch border following an apparent collision Thursday. (Aaron Hinks photo)

Surrey RCMP say one man is dead after a fiery two-vehicle collision at the Douglas (Peace Arch) border crossing in South Surrey Thursday morning.

Police say the collision involved a Porsche Cayenne SUV and a Toyota Sienna van.

“The Toyota subsequently caught fire after the collision. The male driver and lone occupant of the Porsche has been transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The male driver and sole occupant of the Toyota was pronounced deceased at scene,” a news release issued just before 2 p.m. states.

Police were alerted to the incident at approximately 11:30 a.m.

A tweet posted shortly after 11:30 a.m. by a traveller shows flames and thick smoke on the Canadian side of Peace Arch Park, not far from the monument.

PAN reporter Aaron Hinks described seeing two vehicles, apparently crossover-types, in a “t-bone position” in the garden, approximately 30 feet east of new totem pole.

READ MORE: Raising of Peace Arch Park totem corrects a ‘historic wrong’

A number of witnesses said they are too shaken to speak to media, however, one reported hearing at least five “explosions,” Hinks said from the scene.

“Lots of smoke and then saw flames, then more explosions, then more flames,” the witness told Hinks.

The witness also reported seeing one person taken from the scene in handcuffs.

A gardener told Blaine, Wash. newspaper The Northern Light that he was in the greenspace when the incident occurred, but escaped injury.

“When I saw he wasn’t going to stop, I ran behind the bushes. At that point, the van just burst into flames,” Mitchell Gerhardt said.

Northbound traffic on Highway 99 from the border remains closed; southbound traffic has reopened, according to the RCMP release.

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Two vehicles caught fire at the Douglas/Peace Arch border following an apparent collision Thursday. (Aaron Hinks photo)