A Canada Day parade turned tragic for an elderly man in Abbottsford, B.C.

A senior had been travelling in the back of a Dodge Ram pickup truck to celebrate Canada's 151st birthday, when something terrible went wrong.

The vehicle had just left the Canada Day procession near Simon Avenue and Gladwin Road, when Abbotsford Police say he then fell off the truck and was struck by a trailer.

Emergency responders then attended to a call to come to the scene around 12:40 p.m. The elderly man was taken to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

The driver of the pickup remained on the scene and is cooperating with investigators, police say.

Members of the Indo-Canadian Seniors Society sat solemnly near the roadside at the scene, as officers conducted their collision reconstruction analyses.

Sgt. Judy Bird with the Abbotsford Police says officers will be investigating whether parade protocols were followed, and if there was an unloading area where people should have gotten off that truck and trailer before they left the parade route.

With files from Ben Miljure