Men trapped in truck died of carbon monoxide poisoning, coroner says
Montmagny co-workers found stuck in snowdrift during snowstorm last March
As a winter storm roared across the province last March, Pierre Thibault and Michaël Fiset ignored the advice of colleagues who urged them to ride out the dangerous blizzard at their office in Montmagny and not attempt to drive home.
Their decision would prove to be a fatal mistake.
About 10 hours after leaving the transportation company where they worked, police found the two men dead after the truck they were travelling in had become trapped in a high snowdrift northeast of Quebec City.
Both men died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a coroner’s report released on Tuesday.
The two friends didn’t take the blizzard warnings seriously enough, even though major highways in the area were closed and a gas station attendant had urged them not to travel, coroner Luc Malouin says in his report.
A Sûreté du Québec rescue operation was delayed for two hours because officers trained to drive the two snowmobiles at the Montmagny detachment weren’t in the station when the men called for help. If the police officers had been deployed two hours earlier, they may have arrived on the scene while the two men were still alive, Malouin said.
“It’s impossible to say if the police officers could have located the two men in time to save their lives, but it would have increased their chances,” he wrote.
On the same evening, hundreds of motorists were trapped in deep snow on Highway 13 in Montreal.
The tragic incident began on the evening of March 14, 2017, as a bad storm made its way across the region northeast of Quebec City. Locals said it was one of the worst storms in years.
Fiset, 33, who drove a Ford F-150 with all-wheel drive, was confident that he could navigate despite heavy snow and high winds.
When they left the office of Transport Gilmyr around 9:24 p.m., Fiset planned to drop his friend off at his home in Berthiersur-Mer, about 13 kilometres away, before heading home to St-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud.
A few hours earlier, the SQ had closed Highways 20 and 132 because of whiteout conditions on the roads. The only other route home was Coteau Rd. in Montmagny, but that road had also been closed because of the storm.
Fiset decided to drive around the barrier and continued on his journey. At 10:43 p.m., he became stuck in a 1.5-metre-high snowdrift on Principale St.
Both men contacted locals they knew seeking help, but no one could venture out because there was zero visibility and they couldn’t see across the street.
Thibault, 42, then made calls to the SQ and 911 at 11:18 p.m., saying they were stuck in the snow and needed assistance.
But before Thibault phoned police, Fiset walked to a residence about 34 metres away and borrowed two shovels to try to dig out.
Back at the SQ detachment in Montmagny, police were making plans to send out two snowmobilers to rescue the trapped men. But the departure was delayed because an officer qualified to drive the snowmobile was on patrol elsewhere and had trouble getting back to the office.
While police were trying to mobilize the rescue team, conditions in the truck were deteriorating.
Fiset made a second call to 911 at 12:05 a.m. and a third call at 12:51 a.m., saying Thibault was having an asthma attack and was having trouble breathing.
At 12:58 a.m., police informed Thibault the rescue team would be leaving shortly.
By 1:16 a.m., Fiset called police to say he was also having trouble breathing and that Thibault was now unconscious. It was the last call Fiset would make.
The SQ snowmobile team finally left Montmagny at 1:20 a.m. as the storm continued to intensify with howling winds and whiteout conditions.
About 30 minutes into the journey, the snowmobile drivers also became stuck in a snowdrift. The police officers continued their journey on foot and arrived on Principle St. at 2:15 a.m., but they could not find Fiset’s truck because it was buried in the snow.
The officers then sought shelter in a home because they were so cold. They eventually found the truck in three metres of snow at 7:50 a.m. and needed a backhoe to reach it.
It was then that they made the grim discovery. Fiset was found dead outside the truck and his friend was dead in the driver’s seat.
In his report, Malouin said every citizen is responsible for their own safety, adding that motorists can’t always rely on emergency services to respond quickly in bad winter weather. He said Quebecers need to take severe weather alerts more seriously.
He also recommended that the SQ change its practices to ensure that officers who are qualified to drive snowmobiles are in the detachment during severe winter storms so they can be deployed quickly.
“Having snowmobiles to respond to emergencies is excellent, but if no one is available to drive them, they become useless,” he wrote.
It’s impossible to say if the police officers could have located the two men in time to save their lives, but it would have increased their chances.