Car crashes into Park Royal Whole Foods in West Vancouver
Posted June 9, 2023 12:12 pm.
Last Updated June 9, 2023 9:12 pm.
A car crashed into the Whole Foods supermarket at Park Royal mall Friday morning, West Vancouver Fire and Rescue (WVFR) confirms.
Speaking with CityNews, WVFR initially said one person was transferred to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and others were treated at the scene for shock. In a statement to CityNews, BCEHS confirms two people were cared for by paramedics and are in stable condition in hospital.
A car went crashing into the Whole Foods at Park Royal in West Vancouver the morning of Friday, June 9, 2023. Officials say two people were taken to the hospital. (Sarah Chew, CityNews Image)
Assistant Fire Chief Gareth Michael says calls started coming in just after 11:30 a.m.
“The car was definitely inside Whole Foods. I would mark it at probably in the middle of the produce section, I would say about 40 to 50 feet inside the building,” he explained.
“Everyone was very lucky. Considering the time of day, just before lunch and in the produce section … I think I counted seven ambulances were on scene, so obviously they treated this as a mass casualty, given time of day and location.”
It remains unclear at this time what exactly caused the car to drive into the incident.
“I can’t comment on how fast the vehicle was going but just given the point of entry and where the vehicle ended up, it would have had to have been travelling at a decent speed,” Michael said.
Calls came into CityNews just after 11:30 a.m., with reports that emergency services were responding to the incident.
“There’s two fire trucks, and you can’t access the area around Whole Foods at all,” one person said . “[It’s] pretty dramatic.”
Whole Foods has been closed as a result of this incident.
“Logistically, trying to get a vehicle out of a grocery store poses some [challenges]. Obviously, we can’t take the vehicle back out the way it entered due to the destruction of the building,” Michael explained.
The car was eventually removed from the grocery store a few hours later. Video posted online shows the vehicle being driven out of one of the doors at the Whole Foods.
It’s unclear how severe structural damage to the building is.
“Definitely the entry point of the vehicle is compromised structurally. That area has been completely cordoned off,” Michael continued. “It would be a technical removal of this vehicle.”
Witnesses look at the damage after a car crashed into the Whole Foods at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver Friday morning. (Source: Facebook / Lukasz Paprocki)
While Michael says he’s attended several calls involving vehicles into buildings, he admits this scene is a first.
CityNews has reached out to the West Vancouver Police Department and Park Royal for more.
