Police in Terrace say three heli-skiers have died after being caught in an avalanche north of the British Columbia community, as part of a deadly weekend in the province’s backcountry.
RCMP in Terrace say the avalanche happened on Mount Knauss on the Iridium Shoulder ski run on Sunday at around 1:28 p.m., when police received a report of four heli-skiers being struck.
Emergency responders then arrived at a local lodge where one survivor with serious injuries was airlifted to hospital.
Police say the three other skiers died in the avalanche and their bodies were recovered from the mountain.
It was the second fatal avalanche in B.C. on Sunday as officials warned of dangerous conditions created by last week’s heavy precipitation and warm temperatures brought on by an atmospheric river.
Earlier, police in the northwestern B.C. community of Atlin confirmed one person had died in a remote area near the Alaska border after another avalanche.
The Atlin RCMP received an emergency alert from a Garmin handheld device near the Klehini River, along the B.C.-Alaska border, just before 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
The alert indicated that an avalanche near Pleasant Camp had struck a group of people, leaving one unconscious while others performed CPR.
Police co-ordinated a response with volunteers from Atlin Search and Rescue, deploying a helicopter due to cover the roughly 150 kilometres to the area where the alert originated.
“Upon arrival, responders confirmed that one person was deceased,” the RCMP said in a statement Monday. “Five individuals were extracted in total, with four uninjured.”
The B.C. Coroners Service has been notified and is investigating the incident.