UPDATE: Police confirm two fatalities in avalanche near Nelson
By Castlegar Source
The Nelson Rural area RCMP confirm a fatal avalanche incident occurred south of Nelson Wednesday morning, involving a group of heli-skiers.
At around 10 a.m. on March 21, the Nelson Rural area RCMP were notified of the avalanche that involved a group of commercially guided heli-skiers, skiing in the Bonnington Mountain range near Blewett, B.C. The RCMP immediately activated Nelson SAR, however SAR was stood down shortly after, as the Heli Ski operator had activated its emergency protocol with assets in position to immediately respond, rescue and remove the group.
“At this time, we can confirm that the guide and one of the skiers were able to self rescue themselves, suffering only minor injuries and were able to dig out the remaining parties. One adult male skier has been confirmed as deceased. Another skier was also recovered unresponsive and found suffering from life threatening injuries, others in the group suffered non-life-threatening injuries. All have been transported to area medical facilities, we are currently confirming the size of the group as being comprised of three to four clients plus one guide,” said RCMP Cpl Dan Moskaluk
No further information is available at this time. The Nelson Rural RCMP is continuing their investigation of the incident along with the BC Coroners Service.
UPDATE:
RCMP reported earlier that one man had died and have now confirmed that an adult woman also died as result of her injuries when she was buried in the same slide.
The avalanche has been classed as a 3.5 slide out of a scale of 1 to 5.
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