5 hospitalized after truck plunges into creek on Vancouver Island

Five people were taken to hospital after their truck plunged down an embankment and into a creek on Vancouver Island on Sunday.

The group two adults and three kids was heading to Nanaimo after a day of tubing on Mount Washington when the truck went off Highway 19, near Fanny Bay.

The vehicle went onto the median, then 20 metres down an embankment and into Cowie Creek.

First responders as well as search-and-rescue teams responded to help the group to safety.

"These subjects are very lucky. It was a long way down and there was a lot of damage to the vehicle," said Gordon Yelland, who workswith Arrowsmith Search and Rescue.

All five people were taken to hospital, one by air ambulance. The highway was shut down after the crash and reopened after about an hour-and-a-half.

Fanny Bay is about 25 kilometres southeast of Courtenay.