Victim in fatal B.C. bus crash on Christmas Eve leaves behind wife and 2 children in India

Friends and family have identifiedone of the four victims ofa fatal Christmas Eve bus crash east of Merritt, B.C., as 41-year-old Karanjot Singh Sodhi.

Kalwinder Singh saidhe was looking forward to celebrating the holidays with his cousin, but now he'smourning the loss of Sodhi, whom he describesas kind and hard-working.

"I'm very hurt for the last two days," Singh, a truck driver, said.

Sodhi, whowas fromPunjab,India, came to Canada more than three months agoafter spending time in Australia.

He leaves behind a wife and two children a six-year-old son and two-year-old daughterin his home city of Amritsar.

The cousins were on avideo call that Singh believes ended about 30 minutes before the crash. They laughed and joked, discussing Sodhi's upcoming visit to Surrey, B.C., and the party they were to have.

At about 10 p.m., when Sodhi didn't reach Surrey, Singh said his wife began to worry. Sodhi wasn't answering his phone either. That's when Singh began calling the police.

About an hour later, the family got word of a bus crash on their cousin's routeand that some people had died. Singh said he began calling hospitals in the area to check if Sodhi was among the dead.

On Christmas Day, he said, the police called him to say his cousin was one of the victims.

"[Sodhi's]wife is in a very bad shape after hearing the news. His mother, too," Singh said.

'He always had a cheerful smile'

The bus, travelling from Kelowna to Vancouver, went off the road on Saturday and rolled onto thepassenger side ofHighway 97C, which is also called the Okanagan Connector, near the Loon Lake exit. The exit is 330 kilometres east of Vancouver in the Southern Interior.

Dozens of people who were passengers on the bus were takento hospital.

Haward Collince Michael Samy, who worked with Sodhi at a winery in Oliver, B.C., located about 100 kilometres south of Kelowna, describes himas the kind of person who lit up every room he entered.

Another co-worker, AnshulThakur, said Sodhi was an upbeat person who "almost never had a bad day."

"A lot of us go through a lot of stuff, butall the struggles he's been through, he never let that get in the way.... He always had a cheerful smile."

Investigation continues

Police suspect icy roads were the cause of thecrash. Officials have not released the names of those who died.

The RCMP said on Tuesday it's now believed that 46 people 45 passengers and a driver were on the bus, which was operated by the Alberta-based company Ebus. Earlier reports put the number in the 50s.

The InteriorHealth Authority saidsixpeople remain in hospitalwith non-life-threatening injuries.

The RCMP said on Tuesday thatthe bus remains in their custody pending their investigation.

Transportation Minister Rob Fleming said investigations are ongoing.Crews were out in full force to clear highways on Christmas Eve, he said.

"Maintenance contractors were out all day on Saturday with seven pieces of equipment along the connector, plowing, sanding and salting the highway," he said. "The winter conditions on Highway 97C on Saturdaywere not unusual for late December."