KAMLOOPS, B.C. — An Alberta trucker has been identified as the victim of a fiery crash on a B.C. highway.
The B.C. Coroners Service says 48-year-old Calgary resident Tom Hogue died early Tuesday morning when his transport truck veered across the southbound lanes of the Coquihalla Highway, near Merritt, and slammed head-on into a concrete overpass support.
Another southbound trucker says Hogue’s semi-trailer was signalling a right turn off the highway at Merritt, 270 kilometres north of Vancouver, when it suddenly careened to the left, hit the support and burst into flames.
Within moments, Christopher Crerar had stopped his own rig, grabbed an extinguisher and run to the wreck, but the crushed cab was fully engulfed.
The coroner has ruled Hogue died on impact.
A cause of the crash is still under investigation.