Father of 3 killed in Victoria airport car crash
A father of three and career employee of Yellow Cab has been identified as the person killed Friday afternoon when a car plowed into a group of people sitting at a picnic table at Victoria International Airport.
A friend and fellow Yellow Cab employee who came to visit a makeshift memorial on Saturday identified the deceased as Ramesh Sharma, and described him as "a funny guy, a joker" and "like a brother" to the other drivers.
Sharma had been working for Yellow Cab since 1985 and had a wife, two daughters and a son.
A spokesperson for Yellow Cab told CBC News the victims were taxi drivers who had been sitting at the picnic table playing cards on their break. One of them died in hospital Friday evening.
Six other taxi drivers were taken to hospital, as was the driver of the car that hit them.
RCMP Cpl. Chris Swain said the crash happened just before 1 p.m. PT on Friday.
"A vehicle left the short-term parking lot in front of the terminal and appeared to lose control, go across the main access road and hit a picnic table," Swain said.
"After hitting the picnic table, the car continued on and hit the side of the building that was adjacent to the terminal."
The B.C. Ambulance Service said six ambulances were sent to the scene. A spokesperson said two people were taken to Victoria General Hospital in critical condition and six others, including the driver of the car, were taken to Saanich Peninsula Hospital with minor injuries.
On Friday, Yellow Cab operations manager Surinder Kang said the company had contacted the families of all the injured drivers.
"We have informed all the people involved and we have informed all the family members and all the board members, and the staff is at the various hospitals so families don't have any grief of not knowing what's happening."
When asked whether the picnic table where the drivers congregate should be moved, Kang said the table is already quite far from the parking area. He said this appears to be the sort of tragic accident that it's impossible to prepare for.
The airport is located in Sidney, north of Victoria.
