The latest Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan has been returned to Canadian soil.
A military aircraft returned the body of Sapper Sean Greenfield to Canadian soil at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario shortly after 2 p.m. ET.
At the family's request, the media wasn't allowed onto the base to cover the arrival.
The 25-year-old member of of 24 Field Engineer Squadron, 2 Combat Engineer Regiment -- serving with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group -- died Saturday.
He had been riding in an armoured vehicle at the end of an operation to locate Taliban bomb-making factories in turbulent Zhari district of Kandahar province when the vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
No other soldiers in the vehicle were harmed.
Jennifer Reid-Hudson, who said her son was in the same vehicle as Greenfield when it was hit, travelled from Ottawa to Trenton to pay her respects. "This hits pretty close to home," she said.
She met Greenfield and other membes of his unit at a Remembrance Day ceremony last year. "They are a very tight group of guys," she said. "They seem like family."
Greenfield -- based at CFB Petawawa north of Ottawa -- is the 108th Canadian soldier to die since the Afghan mission began in 2002.
The motorcade taking him down the Highway of Heroes had been expected to arrive at the Brock Street overpass in Pickering at about 3:45 p.m.; however, it only approached Oshawa as of about 4 p.m.
Toronto Police were to briefly close the southbound DVP once the motorcade arrived, but motorists shouldn't have been delayed more than five minutes, Sgt. Tim Burrows told ctvtoronto.ca.
The OPP urges people not to pull over to the side of the 401 when they see such motorcades pass.
"Cars parked on the shoulder and people standing on the side of the road are a hazard to traffic on the road and to those who have stopped," it said.
Instead, they want motorists to pull right off the highway.
The final destination of Greenfield's motorcade is the coroner's office in downtown Toronto, where an autopsy will be performed on the dead soldier.
Funeral arrangements haven't been announced yet.
With files from The Canadian Press
