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More than a month after it piled headlong into a Kelowna townhouse, an errant transport truck was gently plucked from the home this morning.
The semi remained embedded in the home while structural engineers sorted out how it could be removed without causing more unnecessary damage.
The green light to pull it out came this morning (Monday).
"It's a big relief,' said homeowner Samer Shehadeh, "But it's just one step in the next direction of getting the house all repaired now."
Shehadeh has been told it could be a year.
"It's going to be a while," he said.
The big rig was gently pulled out by a crew from Mario's Towing without incident just after 9:00 am.
It hardly made a noise.
"I'm very happy it's gone now," said Shehadeh, "but I'm also starting to question, 'why did it take this long?'."
The crash happened Apr 11. Two of his family members including a toddler were inside at the time, but luckily no one was injured.
"You can see the beam," Shehadeh continued. "One piece of wood right? Why did that take a month?"
Leaving the spectacle on display all this time led to another unfortunate setback for the family.
People started finding their way inside, apparently unnoticed by the security personnel keeping watch.
Things were stolen.
"Why was the house not shored up and closed off more securely?"
Shehadeh still has a lot of questions.
"It's been tough. It's been a great toll on the whole family."
But the removal of the truck is a step forward.
"Now we have to sort it all out," he said.
"And just make sure that we get a new home to maybe move back into, we don't know yet."
The Kelowna RCMP arrested two suspects in relation to the break-ins.
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