One man has been killed and another injured after an accident involving a tractor trailer near Squanga Lake on Sunday evening.

Ken Baker, 58, a member of the Carcross-Tagish First Nation, died at the scene after his vehicle was struck by a metal device that had flown off a tractor trailer.

Teslin RCMP, along with Yukon Emergency Medical Services personnel, responded to the single-vehicle collision on the Alaska Highway south of Jake’s Corner shortly after 5 p.m.

The vehicle was travelling westbound when the device from the tractor trailer, travelling in the opposite direction, went through the windshield.

Cpl. Geoffrey Peters told the Star the object was a portable winch boomer. It’s used to tighten and secure heavy-duty cargo straps over the load of flat deck trailers. The ratcheting device weighs 25 to 30 lbs., he said.

His passenger, a 65-year-old man from Whitehorse whose name was not released, was transported to Whitehorse General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

An RCMP collision analyst and the Yukon Coroner’s Service also attended the scene of the accident.

Baker was a prominent member of the First Nation and one of the Tagish Nation Dancers.

In May 2012, he was presented with a Diamond Jubilee medal for his years of volunteer work in teaching and preserving the Tlingit culture.

In 2013, Baker was one of the students at Yukon College who participated in the Essential Skills in Food Security pilot program at the Carcoss community campus.

He learned how to grow his own food and cultivated a garden with lettuce, broad beans, peas and strawberries.

The RCMP say the driver of the tractor trailer did not stop and may not know what had occurred.

There is nothing to suggest the driver caused the incident willfully or intentionally, Peters noted.

Police are hoping to find the truck and driver.

Peters said a witness has identified the truck as having a flat-deck, open-style trailer, which makes sense given the winch device.

But, he noted, “We’re not ruling anything out at this point.”

Police have also contacted staff at both highway weigh scales in an effort to track down the tractor trailer.

But, Peters pointed out, not every truck is required to stop, and the driver involved in the accident could have avoided the scales by turning off Highway 37.

The matter is still under investigation.

Police are asking anyone with information related to the incident to contact Teslin RCMP at 867-390-5555.

Baker’s death was the second Yukon highway fatality in four days.

Last Wednesday, Mavis Hurst, a 40-year-old Faro-area resident, died after her pickup truck veered off the Robert Campbell Highway near Faro.