TULALIP – Four people died early this morning (Aug. 18) after their vehicle left the roadway and landed in a pond near the 7500 block of Totem Beach Road.
A call came in to 9-1-1 around 3:30 a.m. reporting that a truck had gone off the roadway, over a concrete embankment and into a fisheries rearing pond, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said.
The victims, two men and two women, died at the scene.
Holly Reed, assistant manager at the Tulalip Hatchery, said she was downstream from the wreck monitoring chinook salmon when she saw the truck pulled out upside down. By noon she was using a monitor to check the water quality at the crash site.
She said ironically that usually this time of the year there is no water in that pond, but now it’s about 10 feet deep. But in February 1 million coho will be there.
Reed said work was done recently on that bridge, and fisheries was concerned that the railing wasn’t high enough. They were concerned kids would climb over the railing and climb on the net that keeps birds away from the fish.
“They came around the corner, lost control and ended upside down in the water,” Reed said of the accident victims, adding family members had been there that morning.
Collision Investigation detectives will research the cause of the incident.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner will provide positive identification of the victims, as well as cause and manner of death.
