The Ontario Provincial police are investigating whether or not a case of road rage may have triggered a multi-vehicle crash Saturday night that claimed the life of a 22-year-old woman.

Police and emergency personnel were called to the scene of a five vehicle crash on the Toronto-bound Queen Elizabeth Way just east of Cawthra Road around 10 p.m.

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says investigators believe the crash was triggered by a sixth vehicle which was travelling in the middle lane of the highway, moved into the left lane and abruptly slowed down, causing other vehicles behind them to slow down and triggering the multi-vehicle chain reaction crash.

A pickup truck slammed into the back of a Toyota that was carrying three people, two women and a male driver.

Peel paramedics transported two people with life-threatening injuries to a Toronto trauma centre. One of those patients, Nicole Turcotte from Niagara Falls, died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. A 19-year-old woman, also from Niagara Falls, remains in hospital in critical condition.

Five other people were taken to a local hospital with injuries ranging from moderate to minor.

Police say they are searching for any information on the sixth vehicle which did not remain on the scene, described as dark coloured and similar in appearance to a Honda Civic with a recently registered license plate starting with the initials “CE”.