23 September 2010

Salmon Arm Teen Dies After Being
Struck by Train

Friends of the young man killed near Canoe Beach leave a memorial on the railway tracks.

Salmon Arm British Columbia - CP Rail crews did what they could to stop a fully loaded westbound train near the city's water treatment plant, but it was an impossible task.
 
Just after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, police and paramedics were called to Canoe Beach Drive NE because a youth had been struck by a train.
 
Kevin Hrysak, CP spokesperson, reports that four people, two females and two males, were walking in the area, when the two males began heading along the tracks from the beach road crossing onto a fenced area of rail.
 
According to Salmon Arm RCMP Sgt. Eric Castle, the two had been consuming beer beforehand. One of them made a decision to play "chicken" with the oncoming train, states Castle, and attempted to jump the tracks in front of the train.
 
Hrysak said the train crew did everything in their power by using the train whistle, bells, and emergency brake, but the young man was struck just west of the crossing.
 
Rail crew members performed CPR until emergency crews arrived, but to no avail.
 
Castle said the young man was barely alive at the scene and was transported to hospital where he died from his injuries.
 
He has been identified as Tyrel Colton Goerzen, 19, of Salmon Arm.
 
CPR Police and the B.C. Coroner's Service are conducting an investigation.
 
Martha Wickett.