Driver asleep at wheel when 3 killed

MIDWAY, British Columbia, June 20 (UPI) -- A man who fell asleep at the wheel before his pickup truck killed three pedestrians in central British Columbia may face criminal charges, police said.

The victims, a married couple and a friend, had been walking in a rest area off Highway 3 in the West Kootenay region of Midway near the Washington state border Thursday, the Vancouver Sun reported. The driver of a 2009 Ford Ranger crossed eastbound into an oncoming lane and hit them at 12:50 p.m., police said.

Neither the driver, a Burnaby resident, nor his passenger was hurt, and no drugs or alcohol were involved, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Police identified the victims as Hazel Lisowik, 63; her husband, Richard Lisowik, 68, who had homes at Rock Creek and Penticton; and Stephen Gilsenan, 57, a resident of Maruba, Australia.

The Lisowiks, who had recently sold the Kettle River RV park in Rock Creek, were walking from the Kettle River golf course with Gilsenan, an Australian native, and his wife and son. The Gilsenans were on a working vacation, police said.

Mounted Police Cpl. John Ferguson said he expects the accident investigation to last two weeks.