A Nanaimo man died Friday in a head-on collision on Highway 4 near the Port Alberni summit.
The accident happened at about 1:20 p.m., near the brake check area on the section of the highway known as the Hump, when a westbound Ace Courier cube van collided head-on with an eastbound B.C. Hydro flat bed truck.
According to witnesses, the van veered into the oncoming lane and into the path of the B.C. Hydro truck. The vehicles struck each other on the driver’s side and careened off the road. The driver’s side of the Hydro truck was heavily damaged.
A portion of the cube van’s cab was torn away. Firefighters assisted in removing the male driver of the van.
Police in Port Alberni said they were told by witnesses the 47-year-old woman from Gabriola Island driving the B.C. Hydro truck swerved, but was unable to avoid the collision.
Both drivers, the sole occupants of each vehicle, were rushed to West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni.
The driver of the hydro truck received severe contusions to her left arm and has been released from hospital. The driver of the cube van was pronounced dead.
The B.C. Corners Service has identified the victim as Jaspreet Parmar, 25, of Nanaimo.
RCMP traffic investigators and the B.C. Coroners Service continue to work on the case to determine the cause of the crash and the events leading up to it.
– with files from Wawmeesh G. Hamilton, Alberni Valley News