Medical issues were found to have been a factor behind a recent collision involving a train and a pickup truck that sent a 27-year-old Armstrong man to hospital.
CP Rail spokesperson Salem Woodrow confirmed last week that CP’s police service had completed its investigation into the March 18 incident, where a pickup truck that wound up on the tracks east of Sicamous was struck by a train. She said the driver of the pickup was suffering from medical distress, which resulted in the eastbound vehicle driving off Highway 1, and onto the tracks.
Sicamous RCMP received word of the incident at approximately 2:40 p.m.
Sgt. Dave Dubnyk said investigating officers found a Dodge pickup sitting partially on the railroad tracks near Solsqua Road, about eight kilometres east of Sicamous. The train had hit the truck, its bed crumpled by the impact.
“The train crew was able to apply the brakes, thereby slowing it down considerably prior to the impact,” said Dubnyk.
Woodrow said the train crew sounded the horn to alert the truck’s driver, but were unable to stop the train in time, adding it can take up to mile or more for a train to stop.
RCMP, CP Rail Police, BC Ambulance paramedics and the Eagle Valley Rescue Society arrived quickly on the scene and the driver, the truck’s only occupant, was airlifted to hospital in Kamloops with undetermined injuries.