2010-03-14 04:05:07 - Avalanche - Canada EDIS CODE: AV-20100314-25318-CAN
Date & Time: 2010-03-14 04:05:07 [UTC]
Area: Canada, Province of British Columbia, Boulder Mountain, West of Revelstoke, Number of death person(s): 3
Number of Injured person(s): 17
Missing person(s): 20
Damage level: Heavy (Level 3)
Not confirmed information! Description: At least three people were killed, 17 hurt and an undetermined number are missing after an avalanche hit a snowmobiling event in British Columbia Saturday afternoon, authorities said. Cpl. Dan Moskaluk with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told the CTV News Channel that roughly 200 people were on Boulder Mountain, just west of Revelstoke, attending the Big Iron Shootout snowmobile event when the avalanche hit. "It's a large-scale, rescue recovery incident," he said. "We don't have a count at this point in time of the people missing." Emergency crews searched for survivors as officials cleared people off the mountain. Moskaluk said the search would continue until nightfall, and then be reassessed Sunday morning. Rod Romano, a CTV cameraman who arrived at the scene a few minutes after the slide, said "people were digging furiously." Two people were recovered within about 12 minutes, he said, but the avalanche was massive and snowmobiles were carried hundreds of yards downhill. "The debris field was extremely large," he said. Revelstoke Mayor David Raven said the Big Iron Shootout is an unorganized event "that's been a problem for years." Greg Johnson from the Canadian Avalanche Centre told CTV that the area was hit by heavy snow on Thursday and Friday, greatly increasing the danger of a slide. "That created a substantial avalanche risk," he said. The center had said the area had seen 10 avalanches since Friday, and even issued an extreme avalanche warning, urging people to stay away from any known avalanche area.
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Publicado por
NEWS
