Image Credit: Skilled Truckers Canada/Facebook

By Victor Kaisar

Westwold Crash

Interior Health confirms medical samples destroyed after July semi crash in Westwold

Oct 13, 2025 | 3:50 PM

WESTWOLD, B.C. — Interior Health says it is in possession of 348 medical specimens that were on board a semi-truck that crashed through a barn in Westwold several months ago.

While its not clear what caused the crash back in July, Interior Health said the third-party transport company – Loomis Express – “failed to report” the crash.

“As soon as we became aware of this issue and that the samples were not able to be recovered in time to process, IH took immediate action to contact physicians and patients to undertake re-collection,” Interior Health said.

“All samples that were in the truck have been returned to Interior Health for appropriate discard or storage.”

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Image credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today

Image credit: Kent Simmonds/CFJC Today

In a statement to CFJC Today, Interior Health also said it has explored all available options under the contract to address its issues with the transport company.

Interior Health did not specify what the nature of the samples were, though independent journalist Bob Kronbauer, who first reported the news, said the samples included cancer tests, HIV and hepatitis tests, neonatal screenings and other infectious disease tests.

The health authority also did not say where the samples originated from or where they were headed, but Kronbauer noted the truck was bound for Vancouver.

While Interior Health was unable to say whether it has been able to re-book all of the affected patients, a spokesperson did say that the health authority has reached out to physicians and patients.

That spokesperson also said more information should be available after the Thanksgiving long weekend.

“Costs to the organization have not been tabulated at this time,” the Interior Health statement added.

“However, it is important to note that we have reached out to impacted physicians and patients to expedite support for their re-collection due to this inconvenience.”

As of the last update, the truck has remained at the scene of the crash, but the reason why is not yet clear.