Sanikiluaq woman dies in Winnipeg auto mishap

The people of Sanikiluaq this week mourned the death of Louisa Sala, a recreation worker in the community who died Aug. 11 after being struck and killed by a vehicle in Winnipeg,

Sala, 20, died in a Winnipeg hospital from injuries she received after she was hit by a white pickup truck on Portage Ave. at about 1:30 a.m., following an evening visit to a Winnipeg bar with a group of other Sanikiluaq residents, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Winnipeg police say Sala stepped out into a busy street in an attempt to get a ride back to a downtown hotel by flagging down a passing vehicle.

Sala was with her father, Sam Qavvik, with whom he spent an evening, with others, at the Viscount Gort Hotel’s sports bar.

Qavvik, 47, who witnessed the accident, told the Winnipeg Free Press that “we were lost.”

“We didn’t know the city. We tried to flag down vehicles but they were rude, they kept on going,” he told the newspaper.

Sala’s death occurred only two days after she had arrived in Winnipeg to do some shopping and accompany her father, who was in the city to meet with the residential schools adjudication secretariat.

No charges were laid against the driver of the truck and police said he was not impaired.

Police told Nunatsiaq News that the investigation into the incident continues. Autopsy results are expected to show whether alcohol played a role in Sala’s actions.

Comments from Winnipeg Free Press readers to an Aug. 12 news story at about Sala’s death were generally supportive of drivers who decided not to stop for the young woman.