Three people were taken to hospital – one by air ambulance – Sunday afternoon, following a three-vehicle collision in the 14000-block of 16 Avenue.
The crash occurred around 4:30 p.m., when a green two-door Sunfire hit a black Volkwagen Jetta; a gold minivan was also damaged.
Witnesses told police the collision occurred when the Sunfire, westbound on 16 Avenue, hit the Jetta as it attempted to turn from 140 Street to head west on 16th.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet said the momentum of the impact caused the vehicles to sideswipe a Ford minivan. The Sunfire came to rest facing east in the eastbound left-turn lane. Both the Sunfire and the Jetta suffered extensive front-end damage.
The driver of the Sunfire, a 19-year-old White Rock man, was airlifted to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening arm and upper-body injuries.
The two other drivers – a 45-year-old Burnaby woman (Jetta) and a 32-year-old Port Coquitlam woman – were taken to hospital by ground ambulance.
Paquet said at least one of those drivers was released the same day and returned to the scene in an attempt to locate a child carseat, "which fortunately was not occupied during the accident."
Firefighters from White Rock and Surrey attended. The intersection was closed while emergency crews tended to the victims; police analysts were at the scene until 11 p.m.
Paquet said investigation is ongoing, but that speed was an obvious contributing factor.