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23-year-old foreign student dead after serious Granville Island accident

Click to play video: 'Out of control SUV crashes into Granville Island building, kills foreign student'
Out of control SUV crashes into Granville Island building, kills foreign student
WATCH: A 23-year old woman is dead after a terrible accident involving an SUV on Granville Island. As Julia Foy reports, the accident forced the closure of the popular tourist destination to traffic Thursday afternoon – Jul 28, 2016

A 23-year-old female foreign student has died after a serious motor vehicle accident on Granville Island Thursday afternoon. Two others have been taken to hospital.

Police said an SUV struck three pedestrians in the 1600-block of Anderson Street on Granville Island at around 12:30 p.m.

Two people suffered minor injuries and were taken to hospital. The female was pinned under the vehicle and has since died of her injuries.

Police are not yet able to say where the student was visiting from and are currently working to contact her family.

The driver, who is cooperating with police, was not injured in the incident.

While the VPD has not determined the cause of the collision, a witness told CKNW that the accident happened when a woman noticed the SUV rolling and then allegedly jumped in, hit the gas and sent the SUV backwards into the building.

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Police say it appears the vehicle was accelerating backwards at the time of the accident.

According to the Vancouver Fire Rescue Service, the heavy rescue team along with medical and fire crews were on scene for hours and city engineers were brought in to assess the stability of the building that was impacted by the accident.

Traffic was heavily impacted but the roads have since reopened. The area around where the crash took place remains behind police tape.

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