One woman is dead and two men are listed in serious condition as a result of a head-on collision on Saturday night on Highway 39 west, about one kilometre from the community of Hitchcock.

The name of the deceased, a Midale area resident, has not been released, nor have the names of the two male occupants of the car bearing a Manitoba registration.

The female, the lone occupant of a westbound car, was pronounced dead at the scene of the collision.

“The incident remains under investigation,” said Sergeant Daryl Milo of the Estevan RCMP detachment. “Liquor appears to have been a factor,” he added.

The 43-year-old Midale area woman was wearing her seatbelt.

After the driver of the Manitoba vehicle was extricated from the wreckage, he was transported to Weyburn General Hospital with the intention of almost immediately transferring him on to Regina while the passenger was transported to St. Joseph's Hospital in Estevan where he received further medical treatment before being transported to Regina.

“The road conditions were good and the weather wasn't a factor either,” said Milo.

A RCMP collision analyst attended the scene and it was determined that the car carrying the two Manitoba residents crossed over the centre line into the path of the oncoming westbound car driven by the victim.

“Essentially, it was a head-on collision,” said the sergeant.

Besides the RCMP, the emergency medical services teams from the Estevan area attended the scene along with fire rescue services personnel from Estevan and Midale and members of the Estevan Police Service who assisted with traffic control for several hours while the highway was closed to traffic heading both ways. It was believed the highway was reopened to traffic around 5 a.m. Sunday.

This highway fatality on No. 39 is the first of 2012. The last fatal event occurred Oct. 13 of last year when a bicyclist was killed while riding on the highway near the western outskirts of Estevan.