Man dies after logging truck crash near Courtenay, B.C.
A crash involving a logging truck near Courtenay, B.C., on Tuesday claimed the life of one man, CTV News has learned.
Pamela Tessman was driving near the intersection of the Comox Valley Parkway and the northbound onramp onto Highway 19 just moments after a load of logs fell off a truck, crushing a nearby pickup.
The logging truck had been turning left onto the onramp when it came upon a pickup parked at the side of the road.
While turning, the logs spilled off the truck, crushing a 43-year-old man who was beside the pickup.
"I got out of my vehicle and called 911," said Tessman.
"As I was doing that the logging truck driver got out of his truck and went to see what was happening," she said.
The crash closed the northbound onramp onto Highway 19 from Comox Valley Parkway on Tuesday. (CTV News)
A woman was also standing beside the pickup truck on the front passenger side with the truck's door open.
CTV News learned that the logs fell on top of the truck and on top of the open door, narrowly missing her.
"The door being open probably saved her from being hit," said Cumberland Fire Rescue Chief Mike Williamson.
The woman did suffer a shoulder injury and was trapped inside the truck.
"She started screaming and asking someone to help her," said Tessman.
Firefighters later extracted the woman from the vehicle.
"Normally when you come upon accidents you see the police have already arrived," said Tessman. "So to be the first one at the scene was really surreal."
The fire chief added that logging trucks have had crashes at this corner before, though it is a rare occurrence.
CRASH UNDER REVIEW
A commercial vehicle inspector and a forestry worker were at the scene of the crash Wednesday.
The logging truck involved in the crash was owned and operated by a company out of Burns Lake, B.C., and was working under contract for Mosaic Forest Management.
Mosaic said it suspended all operations on Wednesday out of respect for everyone involved.
The company added that it was deeply saddened by the crash and that it was sending its sincere condolences to everyone affected.
"I can tell you the 43-year-old man who was found deceased at the scene was from Lake Cowichan," said Const. Monka Terragni of the Comox Valley RCMP.
His identity has not been released.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.