SICAMOUS, B.C. — One man has been killed and another badly injured in an avalanche in British Columbia’s southern interior region.
Sicamous RCMP said the slide occurred Monday as four people were riding in an area near Sicamous, B.C., about 500 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
Const. Pat Piper said three members of the group are from Alberta and the fourth snowmobiler is from Manitoba. They did not identify the victim, or which province he was from.
“It looks like it was about a four foot slide, four foot deep of snow, sloughed off up the mountain and caught two of the gentlemen in the trees,” said Piper.
“Snow probably pushed them into trees and that’s probably what caused their injuries.”
The body of the dead man has not been recovered and Piper said a recovery effort would not begin until experts determine further slides will not occur.
Wayne Bamford with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria confirmed the injured survivor had two broken legs and was airlifted to hospital in Kamloops.
Last week the Canadian Avalanche Centre warned of the danger of slides over a wide area of the province from northeast B.C. through the central interior to southeast B.C.
The centre said a weak snowpack has resulted in a high risk of slides.