Three Irish people may be vital to a police investigation in Canada after two cyclists and a car passenger were killed when an impaired driver went over the white line and ploughed into the deceased riders. The two cyclists were named as 50-year-old Ross Chafe and 53-year-old Kelly Blunden, both pictured.
The police in Canada have appealed for three Irish holidaymakers to contact them after three people, two of them cyclists, were killed in a road traffic accident.
The three holiday makers from the Cork area came on the scene of the fatal collision just after it happened.
And now police investigating the crash want to trace the Irish trio as witnesses, saying they may have vital information.
The incident occurred on Highway 99 about 50 kilometres northeast of Whistler, British Colombia, on Sunday, May 31st last.
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Pemberton police said a motorist drove into a group of three cyclists just north of Mount Currie about noon, killing two of them and a male passenger in the vehicle.
Whistler Cycling Club said both men killed were members.
The car crossed the white line and crashed into the two riders after they had drifted off the back of the training group they were in.
The two cyclists were named as 50-year-old Ross Chafe and 53-year-old Kelly Blunden, by the club's vice-president Gary Baker.
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"I just feel hollow, because they're both such great guys," said Baker in local media reports.
The passenger of the vehicle, Paul Maurice Pierre Jr (52), of the Lil'wat Nation, suffered fatal injuries in the collision.
Local police have received reports that the driver may have been impaired at the time, with testimony from the three Irish people important for that aspect of the inquiry.
Police believe the three visitors – an older married couple and a female relative - were from Cork and were holidaying in the area.
The Irish visitors were on the Duffey Lake Road – which is part of Highway 99 – and were driving from Whistler to Sun Peaks, when they arrived at the scene of a crash.
They were said to be driving a black Jeep Cherokee at the time. Anyone with information is asked to contact police in Pemberton.
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