First responders were called to the scene of the fatal crash along Highway 1, about 35 kilometers east of Golden just before 7 a.m. Sunday “Although the investigation is still ongoing, it appears that one of the trucks drove into oncoming traffic and caused a head-on collision,” Golden-Field RCMP said in a press release. Mounties said the occupants of both vehicles were killed, but did not initially say how many casualties there were. “Although we suspected there were three victims in the crash, we were unable to confirm this yesterday due to the nature and severity of the crash,” a spokesperson told CTV News in an email Monday. The deceased have been identified as 25-year-old Tanner Lifting, 30-year-old Brandon Richard Johnson and 34-year-old Jagsir Singh Gill. Both Lifting and Johnson were from Chilliwack, while Gill lived in Calgary. On Facebook, Skilled Truckers Canada said Lifting and Johnson truly loved their jobs. “Words cannot express the loss suffered by the Canadian trucking community. These two young men ate, slept and breathed trucking,” the post said. “The highway is a lonelier place without them.” A GoFundMe page set up for Liefting’s family describes him as a loving husband and father who had a passion for trucks. Johnson’s page describes him as a “wonderful friend, brother, son.” Gill’s cousins, Amandeep Gill and Dhavneet Gill, told CTV News that he planned to quit his trucking job this fall and open his own business so he could be home more with his family. “He loved his family, he loved his children,” said Amandeep Gill, Jagsir’s cousin. “He was stuck like glue to his children. He just wanted to spend more time with them. That’s why he wanted to quit trucking, he never had the chance to do it.” A GoFundMe has also been set up for Gill. The stretch of highway near the west gate of Yoho National Park reopened Monday afternoon after being closed in both directions for nearly 36 hours. Although not confirmed, it appears that Johnson and Lifting were in the same truck transporting several 4H dairy cattle returning from a competition in Manitoba. Several cows died in the crash. “Our deepest condolences go out to the families of the drivers who tragically lost their lives and to the 4-H youth who lost their animals,” said Holger Schwichtenberg, president of the BC Dairy Association. Aleda Welch, director of 4H British Columbia, says she believes all the animals were also killed in the crash. “Some of them were from the Okanagan region. There were also some from the Lower Mainland Fraser Valley area,” Welch said. “It is extremely devastating to the 4H community. The children suffered a loss. They’ve been working with these calves for (the) last four or five months. (It’s) quite a shock for them to hear that they weren’t going to get home.” The cows were destined for the Indoor Provincial Show in Armstrong. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of the lorry drivers who lost their lives yesterday,” Spallumcheen Mayor Christine Fraser said. “Our thoughts and condolences are also with all the members of Team BC Dairy 4H who lost their calves, equipment and baggage in this awful situation and all the dairy farmers who lost animals.” Anyone with information about Sunday’s collision, including dash cam video, is asked to call Golden-Field RCMP at 250-344-2221. With files from CTV News Calgary