"Just before 1 p.m. this afternoon we had a report of a motor vehicle collision at the entrance to the terminal at the airport. A vehicle has left the road and hit a picnic table or a series of picnic tables right beside the taxis," said Cpl. Chris Swain, spokesperson for the Sidney North Saanich RCMP. "Five people at those picnic tables were hit by that car after it left the road and then continued from there and hit the side of a building which is beside the main terminal."

There's no indication yet of why the vehicle drove over the curb from the parking lot, across the airport entry road, over a raised green area where it struck the people and a cab, hit a baggage carrier holding structure, and across another stretch of pavement before hitting the security building.

"Right now there's five people who were hit by the car that have all been sent to hospital with serious injuries and the driver of the car has also been transported to hospital," Swain said. "The cause is obviously still under investigation."

Later in the afternoon, RCMP updated the number of injured to eight.

Kuljit Nagra was among the cab drivers who witnessed the accident, and called 9-1-1.

"Suddenly I see the car coming here, very fast. People sitting on the bench, they can't move from there," explained the Yellow Cab driver, who was himself headed to sit with his friends. One the most seriously injured is a man in his 50s that Nagra said has been a driver with the company for 20 years. "The car rolled over his body," Nagra said. The car also struck some of his friends, Nagra added.

"Very scary," Nagra said. "We are very upset."

Island District RCMP traffic analysts are on scene. No one was injured inside the security building.

"I've spoken to the Victoria Airport Authority and they're working closely with us in this investigation obviously because it's their property, but they're saying there's no delays on any of the flights or people accessing the terminal," Swain said.