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UPDATE- Police name Alberni MVA victim

Police have released the names of the men involved in Sunday’s fatal motor vehicle accident near Sproat Lake.

Bradley Mitchell, 27, of Nanaimo was killed after the four-by-four he was driving lost control on the Stirling Arm main logging road in Port Alberni, was partially ejected then pinned underneath the vehicle as it rolled on top of him.

Passenger Derek McLelland, 27, of Port Alberni, was ejected clear of the vehicle but suffered head injuries and was flown to hospital in Victoria.

Neither man was wearing a seatbelt, RCMP Const. Steve Dupuis said.

RCMP collision reconstruction officials were on the scene most of the night and have determined that driving habits and speed contributed to the death.

The road they were driving on has a steep grade that leads into a turn.

“The driver appears to have lost control on the turn then rolled,” Dupuis said.

“The death and injury are linked to the fact that neither of them was wearing a seatbelt.”

Had either man been belted in, events could have been different.

“There was enough space underneath the vehicle after it rolled that the driver would have survived if he were wearing a seatbelt.”

The men were in Port Alberni on a weekend fishing trip, police said.

The B.C. Coroners Service is continuing its investigation.

reporter@albernivalleynews.com