A semi-truck is submerged in a south central B.C. lake after going off a bridge along Highway 1 Saturday morning.
Officials say the vehicle incident happened just before 7 a.m. PT at the Bruhn Bridge along the highway in Sicamous, a municipality of over 2,600 people that is just under 100 kilometres east of Kamloops. A photo and video shared on social media show that a section of the bridge is missing part of its railing.
Due to the incident, DriveBC says the bridge is currently closed in both directions and a detour is in effect via Highway 97 and Highway 97B.
The B.C. Emergency Health Services told CBC News that it dispatched two ground ambulances to the scene after receiving a call about the incident at 6:53 a.m. PT. Paramedics did not transport any patients to hospital, it said in a statement just before 10:30 a.m.
According to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD), the Shuswap Emergency Program and the District of Sicamous are working together to respond to the case. It added that a dive team has also been deployed.
Officials also say the incident appears to have caused diesel fuel to spill in the water.
Tracy Hughes, the district’s coordinator, told CBC News that the truck fell into the Mara Lake side of the bridge in an area locally known as the Sicamous Channel, where Mara Lake and Shuswap Lake meet.
The province’s ministry of environment told CBC News that an environmental emergency response officer is attending the site, but the details of the truck’s contents and potential environmental impacts have not been determined as of 10:24 a.m. PT.
In addition, the CSRD is asking the public to avoid the area so that emergency responders can work. The district says Sicamous Fire Rescue reported that some people went into the water to retrieve items from the truck, something it is asking people not to do.