Staff at the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) lost a member of the family last Thursday, with the sudden death of office manager Aliesha Narain.

Narain, a 33-year-old resident of Whitehorse, died Thursday evening when her Honda car collided head-on with a GMC Canyon truck on the Alaska Highway in the Wolf Creek area.

"It's absolutely devastating .... It's shaken our whole organization. She was a member of our family,” board chair Stephen Mills said today.

Narain was one of the YESAB's first employees, Mills said, hired five years ago to run the Watson Lake office.

"She was a small, strong woman who decided to move to the Yukon and take over our office as manager,” Mills said.

"Not knowing the territory, we weren't sure if she would settle in there, but she did great.”

From Watson Lake, Narain moved to the Teslin office, then came to the capital to run the head office on Strickland Street.

"She really thought highly of YESAB and the work we do,” Mills said. "She was a really big part of the family we have here.”

The deadly collision occurred at about 6:15 p.m. Thursday, as Narain was travelling south on the Alaska Highway.

Her car collided head-on with a truck, driven by a 66-year-old Carcross man, travelling north. The two collided at the top of the hill about 100 metres south of the Wolf Creek campground entrance.

The man was taken to Whitehorse General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a police report.

Both drivers were the sole occupants of their vehicles and were wearing seatbelts, police said Friday.

Alcohol is not believed to be a factor in the crash.

A memorial service has not yet been scheduled, as Narain's family has just arrived from the United States and Ontario.