A Vancouver Island man was killed in an off-roading accident near Chemainus early Tuesday evening.
Sources have identified the passenger ejected from the vehicle, who succumbed to his injuries at the scene, as 24-year-old Mike Sherman, from Duncan.
Employees at the Canadian Tire store where Sherman worked heard the news early Wednesday morning.
“He’s only been working for me since October,” said parts and service manager Richard Gravelle. “I got pretty close and all my staff, we’re like a family.
“The whole team is very shaken up here today. A lot of the guys knew him from school days.
“It didn’t matter what kind of a situation at work, he was always a happy-go-lucky guy,” Gravelle added.
Just before 7 p.m., officers from the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP responded to a report of a single vehicle roll over on the MacMillan Bloedel Forestry Road, near Chemainus.
Officers, including a traffic analyst, attended the location to investigate the cause of the crash.
Three people were injured in the collision. A second passenger was transported by BC Ambulance to a local area hospital and the third was air-lifted to a larger area hospital.
The extent of their injuries are unknown at this time.
Alcohol is not believed to have been a contributing factor in the collision, however the investigation is ongoing.
“We are in the very early stages of the investigation,” said Andy Watson of the BC Coroner’s Service.
“Our process will look at determining when the decedent died and by what means.”
– With files from Don Bodger, Chemainus Valley Courier
