South Okanagan woman dies in crash into Similkameen River: RCMP

A 19-year-old South Okanagan woman died early Friday after the pickup she was in drove off Highway 3 east of Princeton near Bromley Rock, and into the Similkameen River.

The RCMP said in a press release that the 2022 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck with two occupants left the highway at around 2:45 a.m., went down an embankment and into the Similkameen River where it partially submerged.

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A 19-year-old woman from the South Okanagan, died as a result of the collision. The second occupant, a 38-year-old man, was not injured.

“Impaired driving is suspected as a contributing cause to this collision and BC Highway Patrol Keremeos has assumed conduct of the investigation with assistance from Princeton RCMP, the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Service and the BC Coroners’ Service,” RCMP said.

“Where criminality is suspected as a causal factor in a fatal collision, BC Highway Patrol’s Criminal Collision Investigation Team is activated to assist investigators due, in part, to the complexity of these lengthy and technical investigations.”

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Police are asking anyone with information regarding this collision, including any dashboard camera video and pre-collision driving pattern is asked to contact BCHP Keremeos at 250-499-2250 and cite file 2022-3598.