Five snowmobilers are dead after an avalanche erupted in the western Canadian province of British Columbia near the town of McBride, British Columbia’s coroner’s service announced Friday, reported The Herald Sun.
Advertisement
The five snowmobile riders were reportedly out with at least four other groups of snowmobilers, riding in the mountainous back country near McBride, British Columbia, before the avalanche let loose and caught them at about 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday. The Coroners Service has ordered the Renshaw snowmobiling area closed until a certified avalanche technician retained by the service has completed an investigation of the scene.
The five men were among 17 people snowmobiling in four separate groups on Mount Renshaw, an area of trails about 20 kilometres east of McBride and near the Alberta border.
“When you go in big groups, I think there’s a mentality of one-upping each other.”
Minister Shirley Bond represents the area of Prince George-Valemount, and had these comments on the deadly avalanche that killed 5 in McBride.
Cpl. Jay Grierson with the McBride RCMP said it was unusual for that many snowmobilers to be in one area at a time.
A leading expert says that after 10 minutes of being trapped in an avalanche, chances of survival drop dramatically as the snow hardens like concrete. “We rely on these people to enjoy our community”, he said.
Mason says from what he and his crews have gathered, it had a seven hundred metre run and was about five hundred metres wide.
“I am doing fine right now, and to tell the honest truth, tomorrow I will not be doing fine”, Whelpton said.
He says there was a “considerable” avalanche hazard where the yesterday’s slide occurred and noted there were warning signs posted at trailheads.
Avalanches can be triggered in a number of ways, including by people stumbling or adventuring into an avalanche-prone area, or mountain conditions coalescing to unleash an avalanche naturally. Authorities first learned of the slide from the activations of two separate Global Positioning System beacons, which are carried by backcountry enthusiasts.
A similar tragedy struck McBride in March 2014, when two Albertan men were killed while snowmobiling near the interior community. “Their remains have been recovered”. “It is a very sad day for all of us”.
Advertisement
Pascal Haegli, the research chair in avalanche risk management at Simon Fraser University, says that once avalanche victims are buried it is almost impossible for them to dig out of the snow without the proper rescue equipment.
