An injured man was airlifted to Victoria General Hospital Thursday after he was found in the southbound lane of Terminal Avenue below the Bastion Street bridge Thursday.
Firefighters, paramedics and police responded to the scene shortly before 6:30 p.m., but no one is certain how the 51-year-old victim sustained his injuries.
Ron Dawley, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief of operations, said an ambulance crew was already attending the scene when firefighters arrived.
“Our crews attended for protection of the responders and for the victim who was in the traffic lane below the bridge with multiple injuries that are suspicious of somebody who would have jumped, but that can’t be confirmed,” Dawley said.
Dawley said the man, who suffered leg and ankle injuries, might also have been struck by a car.
“He was still conscious when they first started initiating medical protocols,” Dawley said.
Nanaimo RCMP Cpl. Tom Gravelle said the person who called 911 to report the incident did not actually see the victim fall from the bridge and there was no one at the scene police interviewed who witnessed how he was injured.
“All the caller knows is the guy was in the lane – southbound – but the injuries were serious enough that they were consistent with a fall from the bridge,” Gravelle said. “We have no witnesses who can say that he dropped or actually fell. It doesn’t sound like any car hit him.”
Gravelle said police have not had a chance to interview the victim and did not have a report updating the man’s condition.
