One of the victims in Tuesday's deadly runaway dump truck accident on the Lougheed Highway has been identified on social media as Bobby Vanderhoef, a former Pinetree secondary student who was recently married and expecting a baby.
The 32-year-old Maple Ridge resident was one of two people killed in the crash, which also took the life of a 60-year-old woman that has not been identified.
Tributes for Vanderhoef poured in on Facebook.
"I want you to come back to me," Amanda Vanderhoef, the victim's wife, posted Wednesday afternoon. "We are suppose to raise this baby together as a team. I don't know how I am going to go on without."
In a separate post, she said receiving the phone call about the incident was "the worst thing I have ever been through."
"You were so excited to become a dad and this baby won't have the chance to know you," she wrote.
The crash occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. near Pitt River Road, where witnesses said a large dump truck rolled down the hill from a work site above. Someone tried to stop the truck, but was run over before the rig careened onto the Lougheed, according to people at the scene.
Coquitlam RCMP confirmed that the dump truck was empty when it struck the highway traffic and the operator, who police would only say was a man in his 30s, was killed.
By the time the dump truck had come to a stop, it had struck two vehicles, killing a woman in her 60s who was a passenger in one, and sending four others to hospital with injuries.
Police had few details when contacted by The Tri-City News on Wednesday.
"There was a collision between an earth mover and a couple of vehicles on the Lougheed," said Coquitlam RCMP Const. Jennifer Goodings. "From what we understand, it looks like the earthmover was unoccupied. We don't have a lot of details as to why at this point in the investigation."
She said the RCMP's Coordinated Collision Investigation Team is looking into the incident, as are WorkSafeBC investigators.
The crash, which occurred at 3:30 p.m., closed Lougheed Highway in both directions between Pitt River Road and Como Lake Avenue, in front of the Riverview Hospital grounds. The road was re-opened at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday.
