Repairs begin today on damage to the Bruhn Bridge resulting from a fatal weekend crash.
Sicamous RCMP Sgt. Murray McNeil said transportation ministry workers would be on the scene Monday morning, Aug. 26, conducting repairs to a section of railing along the eastbound lane of the Highway 1 structure.
Flaggers will be in place and the speed limit will be reduced to 30 km/hr.
The damage occurred around 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, after a tractor-trailer went off the bridge and fell approximately 60 feet into the Sicamous Channel, resulting in the death of the 25-year-old driver – the vehicle's sole occupant.
"The collision was a single-vehicle event with the eastbound truck striking the southwest approach to the bridge and ultimately crashing through the southside barrier before plunging into the channel," reported McNeil.
The incident prompted a multi-agency response including Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, BC Emergency Health Services and Sicamous Fire Rescue.
McNeil said the Ministry of Environment, along with an environmental containment company, was on scene placing booms in the channel to mitigate the diesel and oil spilled from the truck into the channel.
At 2:45 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25 the Shuswap Emergency Program announced both the driver and the tractor-trailer had been recovered, and that the RCMP and the BC Coroner's Office were continuing their investigation.
"The bridge was reduced to single-lane alternating traffic into the afternoon (Aug. 25) with the victim and the truck being removed from the channel by a heavy wrecker at noon," said McNeil.
A fundraiser at GoFundMe identifies as the driver as Raminderjeet Singh.
"All funds raised will go towards the needs of his family," reads the page titled Sicamous BC Bridge Victim. "His body will be sent to India for burial if the family wishes, and I hope any funds raised will assist in this for his family."
The Observer will provide further information as it becomes available.