A woman and her two small children died after a collision just west of Manitou Friday morning.
Emergency services rushed to Highway 3 about six kilometres west of Manitou around 7 a.m. and found a van and a tractor-truck had collided.
RCMP said an initial investigation found a 22-year-old woman from the RM of Turtle Mountain was driving a Dodge Caravan westbound down Highway 3 when the van began to drift into oncoming traffic. The van then hit a truck head on and caught on fire.
The woman, her one-year-old daughter and five-year-old son who were riding in the van all died in the crash, RCMP said.
The 31-year-old male driver of the truck was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
RCMP officers remained on scene Friday afternoon to investigate the cause of the crash. A detour was in effect Friday afternoon.
An RCMP traffic analyst is aiding in the investigation.
