Two women were confirmed dead Friday morning in a suspected drug overdose. They were found when emergency crews responded to a report of a group of people in medical distress in the beach parking area on Taylor Road in Metchosin.
West Shore RCMP said two men showing “clear symptoms of drug overdose” were taken to hospital in critical condition.
“It is quite a tragedy to have four people succumb to such a serious medical event [and it] is quite traumatic for all the first responders and the witnesses and for the community at large,” Const. Andrew Matheson said Friday. “We don’t tend to see this many people overdosing simultaneously. It’s rare but it is sort of a nightmare scenario about what can happen.”
What happened is a worst-case scenario, he said.
“Metchosin is quite a small community and very tight-knit. This sort of thing will surely weigh heavily on the residents.”
Police were alerted at 6:25 a.m. and were joined by the Metchosin Fire Department and B.C. Emergency Health Services paramedics.
First responders carried out extensive life-saving efforts, police said, adding that evidence of hard-drug use was found at the scene.
The B.C. Coroners Service has been notified and no foul play is suspected.
“We appreciate the public’s co-operation in staying away from the area while investigators continue their work,” police said in a statement. “Our condolences go out to the families of these individuals, as well as the witnesses who first came across the incident.”
The four people involved are from the capital region and in their 30s or 40s, Matheson said. Families were still being contacted on Friday evening.
A passerby came across the group, Matheson said.
Drugs and an assortment of drug paraphernalia were found at the scene. “And other things that would have told the investigators at the scene these people were in the process or had very recently used hard drugs.”
Testing will be conducted to learn what type of drugs were found, he said, noting that a mix of substances can be in drugs.
Investigations will be conducted to find out if this was a case of overuse of drugs or if the drugs were unusually strong, he said.
Police will try to find out where the four people obtained the drugs.
Also being looked at is when the people arrived at the scene and if any other people were with them earlier.
John Kelly, owner of Solo Petite Milo Vineyards on Taylor Road, was just starting his day on Friday morning when his dog started baying. When he went outside, “it was lit up like a Christmas tree” because of the high number of emergency vehicles at the scene.
Taylor Road runs to Taylor Beach, where there is a small parking lot. It is not a municipal park.
Kelly, who has lived at the foot of Taylor Road for 27 years, said he owns the foreshore on what is normally a quiet, family-friendly beach. The sandy spot is north of Devonian Regional Park in a rural area.
Kelly noticed a white truck parked on Taylor Road and suspects it might have been there overnight.
Even if that was the case, “it was all quiet” when he returned home Thursday night, he said.
”There wasn’t any noise or partying.” Prior to hearing sirens on Friday, “I didn’t see anything. I didn’t hear anything.”
A municipal sign prohibits parking after 10 p.m. but Kelly said it is not enforced.
He plans to call on municipal hall to step up enforcement after Friday’s incident.
While the cause of the deaths has not been confirmed, they happened the same day the B.C. Coroners Service reported that at least 192 people died in the province in July from unregulated-drug toxicity.
Of the 1,365 drug deaths reported in the first seven months of the year, 101 were in Greater Victoria — the third-highest total in B.C., behind only Vancouver (296) and Surrey (130). The Island Health region has the second-highest rate of such deaths, at 53.4 per 100,000 people.
“Unregulated toxic drugs continue to cause more loss of life in British Columbia than homicides, motor-vehicle incidents, suicides and natural disease combined, tragically equating to about 6.2 people losing their lives each day,” said chief coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan. “The unregulated drug market is volatile and continues to put people’s lives at grave risk each month.”
Friday’s incident also happened on the eve of International Overdose Awareness Day, and eight years since toxic drugs were declared a public-health emergency in B.C.
About 15,140 British Columbians have died due to drug toxicity since the health emergency was declared, Baidwan said.
“These losses impact people far beyond our province,” he said. “We must not forget these are sons and daughters, parents and grandparents, co-workers and teammates.”
