Deadly avalanche claims two lives in Canada
An avalanche near one of Canada’s most popular ski resorts swept two men off a cliff, killing one and seriously injuring the other, authorities said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the men probably triggered the avalanche on Tuesday when they entered a remote area near West Bowl, Whistler, marked “permanently closed”.
The injured man, who was on a snowboard, was in a hospital in Vancouver with injuries that were not life threatening, Staff Sgt Steve Leclair said.
The man who died was on skis.
Authorities did not release their names. Both worked in Whistler, Mr Leclair said.
Two other men were killed after triggering an avalanche on Christmas Eve in British Columbia’s interior. They had been snowmobiling at a lake when a small avalanche hit.
They were digging themselves out when a larger one hit, killing them both.
On the other side of the border, searchers in northwest Washington yesterday found the body of a second snowmobiler killed in a separate avalanche.
That avalanche hit five snowmobilers on Tuesday, and the body of a 43-year-old woman who was wearing an avalanche beacon was found the same day.
Searchers found the body of a missing 63-year-old man yesterday afternoon, the Whatcom County sheriff’s office said.
The names of the victims were not immediately released.
