Two men are dead and a 28-year-old man is in custody after an early-morning knife attack at a work camp near Fox Creek, a small town about 260 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

At just before 2 a.m. MT on Tuesday, RCMP received a call about "a man at a work camp stabbing people," Const. Jason Curtis told CBC News.

Police found the two bodies and a man armed with a knife.

The man was shot and taken by air ambulance to hospital in Edmonton with serious injuries, said Dan Laville, spokesman for ASIRT, a provincial agency that investigates all shootings involving police.

Police said the man acted alone and they are not looking for other suspects.

Because police are still notifying next of kin, they have not yet identified the victims.

"Our hearts go out to the victims and their families," said Tyler McCracken, executive vice-president of Canada North, the company that owns the oil industry work camp called Berland Open Lodge.

McCracken said the camp is now closed to workers while police complete their investigation. The camp can hold up to 150 people and is used by different companies. He said the camp is not busy at this time of year.

"We take health and safety very seriously," McCracken said, adding that his employees never work alone.

The Edmonton RCMP Major Crimes Unit is on scene investigating the double homicide in the town with a population of about 2,000, and are interviewing witnesses.

"At this point it appears very unpredictable. We don't have any details at this moment on the actual suspect himself," Curtis said.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, which investigates all police-related shootings in the province, is also investigating.