The community of Squamish is rallying around the victims of a horrific crash on the Sea-to-Sky Highway last week.
Two men died last Wednesday when a northbound pickup truck crossed the highway’s centre line near the Cheekeye River Bridge and collided head-on with a van carrying seven workers home from Whistler.
Six other people, including the driver of the truck, were hurt.
At least two of the van passengers are in critical condition, according to family friend Amandeep Kaur Mann.
“The mother, she’s on maternity, his wife. And he was the only breadwinner for the family, and so he’s badly hurt, and I believe he’s got some brain injuries as well.”
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Another badly injured victim lived alone with his grandmother, and was also the sole income-earner in that family, said Kaur Mann.
The victims of the crash have not been publicly identified.
Kaur Mann said the crash has shaken Squamish’s South Asian community, many of whom ride-share together to jobs in Whistler.
But it’s also brought them together. A group in the local Sikh temple has come together to provide emotional and financial support, she said.
Kaur Mann, too, has stepped in to help — creating a GoFundMe campaign for the victims and their families.
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She said the donations that have begun pouring in have shown how caring the wider Squamish community is.
“That’s what is amazing me all the more, it’s not only the the East Indian community, it is the Squamish community as a whole,” she said.
“I am so thankful to all of the people who are coming ahead for this.”
The campaign had raised about $10,000 of a $25,000 goal by Sunday night.
An RCMP investigation into the crash, which occurred on a dangerous stretch of the highway, remains ongoing.
Kaur Mann said among the victims’ loved ones, the question now is why more isn’t being done to make the highway safe.
“They should do something about it, they should do more checks on it, how people are driving.”
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