Police divers have retrieved the body of a man after a truck appeared to have been deliberately driven off a B.C. ferry dock on Vancouver Island.

A white body bag was loaded onto a coast guard hovercraft at the Swartz Bay ferry terminal, north of Victoria, at about 7:30 p.m. PT.

Witnesses said that at about 5:30 p.m., the vehicle drove through a barrier at high speed, proceeded along a lane used for loading cars onto ferries and flew off the ramp, plunging into the water.

Lyda Burchell was aboard a BC Ferry en route from Vancouver that was about 100 metres from the terminal.

"A small white truck … drove at full speed off the end of the dock," Burchell told CBC News. "It sank within, like, seconds."

Vehicles operated around terminals by BC Ferries employees are also white, but it's not known if the truck belonged to the ferry corporation.

The man was the lone occupant of the vehicle, which was submerged in about 10 metres of water, police said.

Swartz Bay, north of Victoria, is the location of the major ferry terminal on southern Vancouver Island.