Second victim found in Agassiz crash

Agassiz RCMP have located a second body after a vehicle carrying three people left the road and crashed into Mountain Slough Thursday morning near Agassiz.

Earlier, police confirmed a 29-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene. A female passenger, also 21, escaped with only minor injuries.

The road where the car took its tragic turn had just been finished the day before. The final step after months of construction for the new bridge and road leading to it was the double strips of bright yellow lines, marking a crisp border between the two lanes on the dark, clean pavement.

Then, early Thursday morning, this stretch of newly paved highway was christened in the most gruesome of ways.

At approximately 2:55 a.m., police were called to the Hammersly Pumphouse bridge, about seven kilometres west of Agassiz on Hwy 7. The car, an early 2000 Pontiac sedan, was on its side underwater, about 25 feet from shore in the pool that leads from the slough to the Fraser River.

An individual who witnessed the crash, along with two others who happened upon the scene, stopped to help and were able to pull one female from the slough to safety.

According to emergency officials on scene, the woman stayed around for a few hours but then was convinced to go to the Chilliwack Hospital to get checked out for minor injuries.

"Miraculously, she was OK. She was treated at the hospital, with little to no injuries," said RCMP spokeswoman Cst. Lea-Anne Dunlop at the crash site Thursday morning.

As the word spread through the close-knit community of Chehalis, where all three occupants are from, dozens of people showed up to the crash site. They huddled in small groups, watching the scene unfold in front of them. As the two divers, RCMP specialists based out of Surrey, prepared their gear for the grim task ahead of them, people hugged each other and watched from the embankment above.

They were friends, neighbours, cousins, family. Their grief was quiet but visible, except for a few hushed whispers about what had happened.

Women shed tears, silent for the most part. Men smoked, and watched, and waited.

Somebody pulled out a stack of blankets, and around the makeshift camp, backs covered in royal blue huddled from the cold wind whipping in from the Fraser River, just on the other side of the railroad tracks.

No one wanted a reporter there. Who could blame them? No one wanted any of this to happen. So, people stood silently, waiting, watching, hoping that the divers would find the victim's body soon and put an end to the whole thing.

By mid morning, the oil slick that spread across the water in a rainbow shimmer had all but dissipated. The car and the first body had been pulled out of the water in the early morning and taken away. All that was left was the diver, his movements visible by the bubbles of water rising to the surface.

After the dive team found the 21-year-old victim and pulled him to shore, singers with drums went down to the water and sang a farewell song to their friend. The deep chants reverberated across the slough and off the sides of Mt. Woodside, as a lone raven circled overhead.

"It is nice to see the support this community has for one another," Dunlop commented on scene. "Our First Nations officers will be there to support them in this time and RCMP Victim Services will be offered as well to help with this tragic loss."

Dunlop says the incident is still under investigation by the Fraser Valley Traffic Services, but it does appear speed and alcohol are a factor.

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