Deadly weekend in BC’s wilderness keeps SAR crews busy
Posted April 10, 2017 12:47 pm.
Last Updated April 10, 2017 12:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) – It was not an easy 48 hours for search and rescue teams in the Lower Mainland over the weekend.
Not only did five hikers fall 500 meters down Mount Harvey near Lions Bay, but a young man from Langley is believed to have died after being swept down a waterfall in Golden Ears Provincial Park.
Local fire crews and Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue were called to Gold Creek Falls at around 4 p.m. on Sunday. Swiftwater teams and search helicopters combed the waters downstream to Alouette Lake, but there was no trace of the 24-year-old.
The search was suspended at nightfall.
SAR manager Rick Laing says after meeting with the RCMP this morning, they decided to keep the search suspended until the water levels drop. “Even from our ground searchers’ point of view, if they’re not swiftwater trained, we don’t have them go near the edge of the water. It’s just too dangerous.”
The man is thought to have entered a pool at the top of Gold Creek Falls before he was swept away by a powerful current. Laing says sometimes people try to go swimming in the pool, though it’s possible the man slipped off a rock and fell in.
The man’s two friends, who are also in their early 20s, made it out of the park safely. “One was probably suffering from shock and probably hypothermia, but from my understanding they’re both fine,” Laing adds.
Meantime, the BC Coroners Service is working to identify the five hikers who fell from the peak of Mount Harvey on Saturday.
