Motorcyclist dies after hitting rock face near Sicamous

SICAMOUS – Police are investigating after a Malawka man died in a motorcycle crash Thursday night.

So far, the RCMP have learned two motorcycles were travelling together northbound on Highway 97A towards Sicamous around 7 p.m., April 23.

“One of the motorcycles went off road striking a rock face, coming to rest in the southbound lane of the highway where a passing motorist came upon the collision and stopped to assist,” Cpl. Mike Wasylenki with the RCMP's Trans Canada East Traffic Service says in a release.

While the motorist assisted the man and phoned 911, the second motorcyclist returned briefly to the scene and departed in a “distraught emotional state” Wasylenki says.

The 52-year-old motorcyclist, a Malawka resident, died at the scene.

The cause of the collision and circumstances around it remain under investigation.

According to Drive B.C., the highway was shut down for about four hours overnight while police attended the scene.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.