Residents of Mayne Island are reeling after a single-vehicle crash Saturday night that killed two men.
Jeanine Dodds, a Mayne Island representative with Islands Trust, called the deaths “a community tragedy” for the Gulf Island, home to about 1,200 people
She said she knew both men who died, who have five children between them.
“They’re totally entwined with almost everybody who lives on Mayne Island,” she said. “So it impacts the entire community because of what their various roles have been over a long period of time.
“They were well-respected, well-loved and the entire community will be grieving.”
Community counselling could be offered, said Dodds, who is in her seventh term on the Mayne Island Local Trust Committee and spent 10 years as a school trustee.
Dodds, who came to Mayne as a child in 1960, said nothing like this has happened in the 63 years she’s been on the island.
Paul Brent, the electoral area director for the southern Gulf Islands, lives on neighbouring Saturna Island, said he’s offered his support.
B.C. RCMP spokesperson Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said the investigation is ongoing into the crash, which happened about 10 p.m. Saturday on Merryman Drive, which runs southeast from the B.C. Ferries terminal at Village Bay.
The two men were in a 1995 Firebird, which failed to negotiate a curve, went off the road to the right and hit a tree, Clark said.
He said the men, who were in their 40s, were pronounced dead at the scene.
Police have said alcohol and speed may have been contributing factors in the crash
