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Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Local ‘giant’, friend, killed in plane crash LEXI BAINAS CITIZEN
A Subaru Impreza sits against the side of the Island Mediquip building on Government Street after initiating a five-car collision that sent six people to hospital last Thursday afternoon. [KEVIN ROTHBAUER/CITIZEN]
Six injured in five-car collision KEVIN ROTHBAUER CITIZEN
Six people were taken to hospital after a five-car collision at the intersection of Government and Cairnsmore streets in Duncan last Thursday. Approximately 4:30 p.m., a Subaru Impreza was travelling north
on Government toward Cairnsmore, where four other vehicles were stopped at a red light. It struck the passenger side of a Plymouth Voyager, then continued on and destroyed the rear end of a Ford pickup before spinning in the opposite direction, over the sidewalk and into the side of the
Island Mediquip building, where it caught fire and both airbags deployed. The pickup, meanwhile, was forced into the back of a Honda CRV, which in turn ran into the rear of a Chrysler Pacifica. See SIX INJURED, Page 4
Friends and colleagues are mourning the loss of a Cowichan Valley community leader after Gerald Paul Thom of Youbou was killed in a plane crash near Nanaimo last Saturday. Thom, 50, and his friend, Michael Cyril Weir, 73, of Saltspring Island, had built the aircraft, an Avid amphibian, themselves from a kit. According to Matt Brown, of the B.C. Coroners Service, Thom and Weir “were taking their home-built aircraft on flight trials, taking off from the Nanaimo Airport, which is located at Cassidy south of Nanaimo, on the evening of July 26. “Shortly after 7 p.m., witnesses observed the plane to be in trouble shortly after takeoff. It crashed almost immediately onto the neighbouring Cottonwood Golf Course. Both men were deceased at the scene.” Earlier in the day Saturday, Thom had been busy working with a big group of enthusiastic volunteers at a riparian repair project along the shore of Cowichan Lake. By Sunday, shocked Cowichan Valley friends were sharing the sad news about the tragedy. Water conservationist David
Gerald Thom Slade said in an email, “We have lost a giant of a man in terms of his passion and dedication to sustainability in the Cowichan. It is indeed a sad day for the Cowichan Valley and for all of the family and friends of these men.” Lake Cowichan Mayor Ross Forrest, a member of the Cowichan Lake and River Stewardship Society, posted on his Facebook page, “My heart goes out to the families and friends of Gerald and Michael. What a terrible loss. See THOM, Page 4