Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Tuktoyaktuk (Feb 08/02) - A collision on a private ice road northeast of Tuktoyaktuk claimed the life of a local man Monday night.

Carl Smith, 38, was working with a co-worker on a parked vehicle by the side of the road at about 10:20 p.m., when he was struck by an oncoming tractor trailer.

Medics from a nearby camp attended, but Smith was probably killed instantaneously, said Sgt. Brian Winters with the Tuktoyaktuk RCMP. The other man was taken to Inuvik Regional Hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Winters said there is no indication that alcohol, weather, or road conditions contributed to the collision. "It was just a plain, simple, unfortunate accident," he said. "It's dark on the ice road and visibility is always a problem." He said charges are not being considered. The collision occurred about 100 kilometres northeast of Tuktoyaktuk on the ice road leading to the Japex camp at Richards Island.

Japex is the Japanese oil company conducting experimental drilling at the old Mallik site. Japex project manager Hideaki Takahashi said that to his knowledge, none of the men involved in the accident were employees of Japex. There are a number of other camps supporting seismic operations that share the same ice road, he said.

According to a sister of the deceased, Smith was a profiler working for Gruben's Transport for about two years. He had one young daughter in Tuktoyaktuk.

"Everybody's really taking it hard," said Katy Smith, in Inuvik Tuesday. "We only found out this morning."