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Second logging truck rollover in two days in Port Alberni

A logging truck has spilled its load in a residential area of Port Alberni after apparently taking a corner too fast. It is the second time in two days that a logging truck has rolled over near Port Alberni.
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A logging truck has spilled its load in a residential area of Port Alberni after apparently taking a corner too fast.

The truck had been turning left from Third Avenue onto Ship Creek Road when it rolled onto its right side, spilling logs down an embankment about 30 metres away from a housing complex.

"I've never heard anything like this," said Norm Cartlidge, who rushed out of one of the homes with his young son after hearing the truck crash. "What a terrible bang."

Sheryl Lloyd lives several blocks away and was driving in the vicinity of the crash when she was forced to stop.

"The lady in front of me said she saw it all. He took the corner a little too sharp and the whole thing went over, cab and all," Lloyd said.

The driver, the lone occupant in the vehicle, was taken to West Coast General Hospital by ambulance as a precaution.

City of Port Alberni city works supervisor Randy Fraser, who was at the scene, said it will be up to the company that owns the logging truck to clean up the spill.

This was the second incident in two days involving a logging truck rolling over. Thursday (May 12) at 11 a.m. the RCMP reported a fully-loaded logging truck rolled over on Highway 4 at Sutton Pass, spilling its load onto the road.

The driver of that accident suffered only non-life-threatening injuries and traffic was tied up minimally in both directions, he added. No other vehicles were involved in the accident and the logs were cleaned up by 6 p.m.

In 2010 a logging truck crashed into a cement barrier at the bottom of The Hump on Highway 4, near Cathedral Grove, spilling its load and forcing the closure of the highway in both directions for more than two hours.

Two years ago another logging truck with an insecure load spilled at the corner of Stamp Avenue and Roger Street in Port Alberni, the falling logs narrowly missing several vehicles that were driving in lanes opposite the truck.