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ShareTerrace man killed after driving truck into river
By Todd Hamilton - Smithers Interior News
Published: September 08, 2008 1:00 PM
Updated: September 08, 2008 2:30 PM
A Terrace man is dead after the vehicle he was driving plummeted 25 feet off a bridge and into a river off a service road near Telkwa.
Cpl. Mike O'Flynn of the Bulkley Valley Traffic Services, said the driver, whose name has not been released, was travelling on 1,000 Road when it failed to negotiate the curve leading up to a bridge entrance near the eight kilometre marker of the forest service road.
"The pickup struck the concrete barrier leading onto the bridge and slid along the guard rail, before going off the bridge, landing upside down in the river 25 feet below," O'Flynn stated.
Bulkley Valley Search and Rescue swift water rescue personnel secured the vehicle so a large excavator could be used to pull it from the water.
"Search and Rescue members also combed the shore of the river for any other occupants of the vehicle while the investigation unfolded," he stated.
RCMP have determined that the driver was the lone occupant of the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle had last been seen in Smithers with friends during the early hours of Saturday morning.
"When he failed to show up for work Saturday, his boss drove to where he was camping while working in the area on construction projects and located the truck," O'Flynn stated.
An RCMP collision analyst also attended the scene. A mechanical inspection of the vehicle will be completed sometime this week to determine if a vehicle defect contributed to the crash, as is done in all fatal crashes.
