Several accidents and a snow dump blocked Highway 104 westbound until Thursday, stranding some vehicles for up to 14 hours. (Submitted by Kim Robinson)Emergency and government officials in Nova Scotia are trying to explain why thousands of stranded travellers had to spend a night trapped on a snow-swept highway.

Carolyn Bolivar-Getson, the minister responsible for the provincial Emergency Management Office, said EMO called RCMP to offer help, but the Mounties weren't interested.

"If they would have needed our services at any point in time, we were notified that they definitely would return that phone call," Bolivar-Getson said.

The section of the Trans-Canada Highway in northern Nova Scotia from the toll booths to Glenholme, part of provincial Highway 104, became impassable Wednesday after a sudden storm hit and several accidents blocked the road.

As more cars headed west toward the traffic jam, the lineup grew to about 1,500 vehicles.

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Mark Gallagher said RCMP never sent out an official release that the highway was closed because they didn't confirm the extent of the problem until 3 a.m.

Stranded travellers spent a cold night huddled in their cars. Some had no food or water. Some were too low on gas to keep their engines running continuously for heat.

Jane Porter and her husband were stuck in the queue for 14 hours. She said there was no sign of police or provincial officials until the traffic started to roll again in the morning.

"People stuck for 14 hours is an emergency, as far as I'm concerned," said Porter.

Gallagher said an officer consulted with a local emergency official in Cumberland County and together they decided the EMO could do nothing in the blizzard conditions.

"He was able to speak to EMO and he was able to give him an idea as to what was going on out there, and the decision was made, I guess, between the two of them that there wouldn't be anything they could do other than remove people if some people needed to be removed," Gallagher said.

At one point, an ambulance and police car headed east on the highway to provide medical assistance to people in the tied-up westbound lanes.

Craig MacLaughlan, EMO deputy head, wonders if keeping people in their cars was the right thing to do, based on the circumstances.

"If the safest decision was to keep people in their cars until they could get the road cleared to start moving traffic, that may have been the safest decision to make," he said

Bolivar-Getson said she will meet with EMO staff to see if there are any lessons to be learned.

An independent consultant will review overall safety on the Cobequid Pass. In addition, the province will look at whether it can force the private toll road operator to allow more services on that stretch of highway.