Man dies after truck rolls near Marsh Lake

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Whitehorse RCMP are calling a traffic fatality on the Alaska Highway Monday afternoon a “needless tragedy” .

A Whitehorse man lost his life when his pickup truck rolled over near Marsh Lake.

Police, ambulance personnel and Marsh Lake volunteer rescue forces were all on the scene of the accident just before 3 p.m., the RCMP and emergency services officials confirmed today.

They were unable to help the lone occupant of the vehicle, who died at the scene.

According to police, the driver lost control while travelling north on the Alaska Highway, a few kilometres south of the M’Clintock Bridge.

The vehicle went into the ditch and flipped over, throwing the driver from his seat.

“We do not believe he was wearing a seatbelt,” RCMP Sgt. Glenn Ramsay told the Star.

The man’s name is not being officially released until family members living outside the Yukon have been contacted, Ramsay said.

Family members within the territory were not told of his death until several hours after police had attended the scene.

“It took a little while to obtain his identification, and things were further complicated by the incident on the river.”

In that case, police received a call at 4:15 p.m. about a partially-clad man standing on the river ice near Shipyards Park.

The 24-year-old man was threatening suicide, according to a police press release.

“Officers talked him off the ice and he was taken to WGH (Whitehorse General Hospital),” Ramsay said.

No one from the hospital was available to comment on the man’s condition before press time this afternoon.