People in the Nova Scotia village of Pugwash are heartbroken and mourning the loss of a Good Samaritan who died while trying to help a stranded motorist during stormy weather.
The young man was killed Wednesday afternoon in Port Howe when a fire truck skidded off the road and into an accident scene.
“The highway was completely covered with ice and it was slippery even to walk on by foot,” says Const. Travise Dow of the Cumberland District RCMP.
A fire truck from the Pugwash department was responding to a call when the driver saw something on the road ahead and started to slow down.
“It was sliding on the road and it started to spin on the highway,” says Dow. “At that point, people were parked on the side of the road here and it came into contact with the first vehicle and subsequently, the next vehicle.”
Some people had stopped on the side of the road to help another motorist and the force of the collision with the fire truck drove both vehicles into the ditch.
A 21-year-old Pugwash man was killed and his passenger taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The victim’s name has not been released, but he was well known in the community.
“He was always smiling, he was always happy, he was always talkative,” says resident Tracey Mundle. “He gave back to the community. It is just a dreadful tragedy.”
“That is the tragedy of it all, good deeds sometimes don’t always turn out good,” says resident Nancy McLelan.
Members of the Pugwash Village Fire Department have been meeting with a critical incident stress management team.
“With the icy conditions, I’m not sure if any speed would have prevented them from losing control coming to the scene,” says Dow.
RCMP say they don’t expect to lay charges but are still investigating the incident.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
