
Photo via Skilled Truckers Canada
A semi-trailer truck has plunged 18 metres – or 60 feet – off a highway bridge in Sicamous, and emergency officials say the driver is missing.
Mounties say Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue as well as BC Emergency Health Services and local firefighters are at the RW Bruhn Bridge, where the eastbound truck drove off the roadway on Saturday morning.
A statement from the RCMP says the driver is believed to be the only person in the vehicle and has not been located.
The Bruhn Bridge is part of Highway 1 crossing the B.C. Interior, and police say the major thoroughfare was closed after the crash and was being redirected via highways 97A and 97B about 34 kilometres to the south of Sicamous.
Police say the crash caused significant damage to the bridge deck and the crossing would be closed until it could be made safe.
Photos and videos shared on social media show a section of the barrier rail on the two-lane bridge destroyed, with boats and unidentified debris in the waters below.
Sicamous Fire Rescue says in a statement that the Shuswap/Mara channel below the Bruhn Bridge has also been closed to all marine traffic until further notice.
Both Sicamous Beach Park and Sicamous Narrows are both closed as emergency workers are on-scene for debris cleanup.
– With files from The Canadian Press