A 31-year-old Vancouver Island man has died after being struck by an SUV Wednesday.
According to police, 31-year-old Khushal Singh Rana was walking to work along Gorge Road after celebrating his son’s fourth birthday when an SUV jumped the curb and struck him before running into a tree.
After having one of his legs amputated and spending four days in a coma, friends confirmed that Rana died at the Victoria General Hospital on Saturday.
The Sikh temple he went to says the community is in shock.
“Everybody got their hopes up and it is a shocker,” said Raghbir Bains, the president of the Khalsa Diwan Society.
The temple is collecting donations to help Rana’s family.
“He was the main bread-earner of the family and our main concern is just to make sure they are not going to have any kind of funding problem,” Bains said.
Rana had recently moved to Victoria from Surrey along with his son and wife, who is pregnant with twins.
He was a chef at the Sizzling Tandoor Restaurant. The owner says Rana “touched everyone’s heart” in the few months he worked there.
The restaurant’s general manager also set up a GoFundMe page for the family.
“It's with heavy hearts and regret that we inform our community that Khushal Singh Rana unfortunately succumbed to his injuries yesterday evening after fighting a strong fight over the past few days,” Kirn Bawa, wrote in an update on the fundraiser page.
“Despite everyone’s prayers and the phenomenal efforts of the medical team at (Victoria General Hospital), he unfortunately had to leave us far too soon.”
So far, the campaign has raised nearly $60,000 of its $75,000-goal.
The 25-year-old woman who was driving the SUV was also taken to hospital.
The cause of the collision is still under investigation.
With files from CTV Vancouver Island’s Yvonne Raymond
