One dead, several injured after avalanche in remote B.C. backcountry
Posted Mar 10, 2012 04:47:12 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER – One person is dead and several have been injured following at least one avalanche in British Columbia’s backcountry.
Coroner Barb McLintock said the fatality occurred Friday afternoon near Sparwood in southeast B.C. close to the Alberta border.
“Our understanding is there’s one dead and at least one had been dug out and was injured,” said McLintock.
There were unconfirmed media reports the avalanche victims were on snowmobiles.
The Canadian Avalanche Centre issued a warning Friday that the backcountry avalanche risk was high due to weak layers in the snowpack.
McLintock told The Canadian Press that search-and-rescue officials received a satellite phone call from a group of people in a remote area about 30 kilometres southeast of Sparwood, where cellphone coverage is non existent.
She said a coroner was dispatched to the scene just after 2 p.m..
Ben Mittelsteadt, a spokesman for the BC Ambulance Service, said paramedics had taken three people to hospital with minor injuries.
Friday’s fatality is the second avalanche-related death in B.C. this week.
A 44 year old man from Squamish died on Tuesday after he and four other snowmobilers got caught in a snowslide near Whistler.
B.C.’s avalanche warning is in effect until Sunday and covers the mountains of the Inland South Coast, the Columbia Mountains from Prince George to the U.S. border, and B.C.’s southern Rockies.
