An unmanned B.C. Ferries truck crashed into a parked car with a small child, a woman and a wheelchair-bound man inside at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal this week.
Roberts Creek resident Tom Clelland, who witnessed the accident, said the scene was very frightening.
"I saw the ferry guy running after the truck, trying to get inside and stop it, but it was picking up speed and he was thrown off it. It actually just missed running him over by a foot or so. When it careened into the parked car the glass exploded and I could hear the little girl screaming," said Clelland.
The accident occurred at about 2:15 p.m. Aug. 17 while passengers were waiting to board the ferry bound for the Sunshine Coast.
B.C. Ferries says the incident is under investigation and does not yet have an answer as to why the truck was rolling freely down the hill.
"We don't know exactly what happened. Our truck rolled into two other vehicles and apparently there was a little girl who was quite shaken by the incident but not seriously injured. No one was seriously injured, thankfully," said Deborah Marshall, B.C. Ferries spokeswoman.
Ambulance crews attended the scene and took the little girl and the ferry worker who tried to stop the truck to the hospital, but both were released later that day, according to Marshall.
"It looked to me like the little girl was just really scared and maybe in shock but not hurt physically," said Clelland, who noted paramedics at the scene also attended to the other occupants.
The second vehicle that was hit by the truck did not appear to be nearly as damaged as the first car, said Clelland.
"The truck was one of those big 4X4s that they use to jump start vehicles in the ferry line-up. Its bumper was really high, so when it hit that car in the rear corner the car just buckled in and the glass exploded," said Clelland.
He was amazed no one was more seriously injured.
"That truck rolling at such a clip had the potential to kill someone," he said.
He also commended the ferry worker for trying to stop the out-of-control vehicle.
"He basically put his life on the line trying to stop that truck," said Clelland.
B.C. Ferries plans to continue its investigation into what caused the truck to roll down the hill, and Marshall says they will be taking safety precautions to ensure it doesn't happen again.
According to West Vancouver Police, none of the occupants of the vehicles in the accident were from the Sunshine Coast.
