'Thank God everybody is OK': Owner of truck that slammed through Nanoose Bay, B.C., home speaks out
The owner of the truck that drove into a house along the Island Highway in Nanoose, B.C., on Monday is convinced his driver experienced a medical issue that led to the crash.
Phil Lagan is the owner of LTS Logistics, a Saanichton, B.C.-based trucking company that on Monday was transporting large paper pads to a mill in Port Alberni, B.C., in a semi-trailer owned by Coastal Pacific Xpress out of Surrey, B.C.
"Thank God everybody is OK, thank God there are no serious injuries," Lagan said Tuesday.
Lagan says there isn’t a definitive cause of the crash yet, but says after the driver was airlifted to hospital in Vancouver he was being kept for observation as of Tuesday.
The driver was airlifted to hospital in Vancouver but according to Oceanside RCMP he did not suffer any serious injuries from the crash. (Marcy Lunn)
Lagan described the driver as an older man with no driving infractions and no problems of any kind.
"[He's] responsible, he’s had his driver’s license a long time, diligent, so I don’t know," said Lagan.
"The fact of where [the truck] went and how it went in definitely leads to a medical condition for the driver," he said.
A news release issued by RCMP Tuesday afternoon said "the cause of the collision was still under investigation but initial indications are that a medical event may be a contributing factor."
The driver apparently did not experience serious injuries in the crash that heavily damaged a six-year-old home located next to the highway, but he did need to be extracted from the vehicle.
Nobody was in the home at the time of the crash.
The house is pictured on Tuesday, Oct. 4, one day after the crash. (CTV News)
Lagan says his fleet of trucks have dashcams, GPS and e-logs which he says is all in the hands of the RCMP.
Lagan says the Monday 2 p.m. crash happened after the driver had just come off a 36-hour reset.
"He was fresh, this was his first trip of the day," he said.
He says the RCMP and B.C.'s Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement will do their jobs before his company will get any information from them.
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