Drivers survive Highway 401 head-on; one arrested

(Newswatch Group/File)

Update 7:44 p.m.: O.P.P. say the westbound lanes have reopened. The eastbound lanes remain closed.

CORNWALL – A section of Highway 401 is closed in both directions after a head-on collision late this afternoon (Tuesday).

SD&G O.P.P. say a “commercial rental vehicle” somehow ended up going west in the eastbound lanes where it collided with a passenger vehicle around 4:15 p.m.

Surprisingly, the occupants of both vehicles survived the crash.

The man driving the passenger vehicle is in hospital with serious non-life threatening injuries.

The other man driving the rental vehicle was not injured. Several eyewitnesses say the driver fled the scene and was arrested at the Tim Hortons on Boundary Road.

A police investigation is underway with O.P.P. Traffic Collision Investigators on scene.

A section of Highway 401 remains closed in both directions between McConnell Avenue and Boundary Road.

In this supplied photo, SD&G O.P.P. and Cornwall-SDG Paramedic Services attend to a vehicle in the ditch on Highway 401 near Boundary Road after a head-on crash on Tuesday, March 27, 2018. One driver is in hospital while the second one was arrested. (Supplied via Newswatch Group)