PEMBERTON, B.C. — Three people are dead after a man, who police believe was impaired, drove into a group of cyclists out for a weekend ride on the Sea-to-Sky Highway about 60 kilometres northeast of Whistler.

Pemberton RCMP said they received a call from a witness about a driver crashing into three people cycling along Highway 99 around noon on Sunday, killing two members of the Whistler Cycling Club, along with the vehicle’s sole passenger.

The condition of the third cyclist was unknown, said RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair.

The president of a Whistler, B.C., cycling club says two of three people killed in a weekend crash were active members of his group with a lot of experience on the road.

Frank Savage of the Whistler Cycling Club says the group was apparently wheeling down a steep and challenging area when the accident happened.

Savage says the two dead cyclists were prominent riders in the resort municipality and his group is devastated, however both he and police are withholding their identities.

One officer accompanied the driver as he was airlifted to a hospital in Vancouver.

LeClair said reports that the driver was impaired at the time of the crash are based on observations from witnesses and police officers at the scene.

“According to witnesses, (the driver) was allegedly driving impaired,” he said.

The families of the two cyclists who were killed have been notified, said LeClair, but the identity of the deceased passenger has yet to be confirmed.

“It’s a very serious case,” said LeClair. “It’s concerning when something like this happens and we want to work to make sure that all the evidence is collected and processed properly.

Highway 99 was closed while police investigated. DriveBC estimated it would reopen by 11:30 p.m.

In the meantime, DriveBC has been directing motorists to take an alternative route of Highway 12.

However, some have been making other plans to stay overnight in the area while waiting for the road to clear, said Janice Lee at the front desk of Pemberton Valley Lodge, which is about a half hour away from the site of the accident.

Around 4 p.m., Lee said she started seeing the first of stranded travellers stream in to check in for the night at the small lodge, including a mother and daughter who “were three cars behind the accident. They were headed back to Kamloops, but decided to stay the night.”

“I asked if they had been able to help the cyclists, but they said they were gone. They had died,” said Lee, recounting her conversation with the eyewitnesses.

“They said an ambulance arrived about an hour later and they stayed for a couple of hours to help (out on scene)."

She said the driver of the vehicle was described as a “middle-aged man.

Whistler Pemberton RCMP are asking any witnesses to this incident to call Pemberton RCMP at (604) 894-6634.

With files from Canadian Press

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