Canada avalanche claims 5 lives

According to Donita Cuzma of the British Columbia Coroners Service, at least five people have been reported dead after an avalanche struck near McBride, British Columbia in Canada.

Reports say the avalanche which struck at 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET) involved two groups of snowmobilers with a search team rescuing six survivors from one of the groups.

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The warning service manager at Avalanche Canada, (a nongovernmental organisation) Karl Klassen, said the group received a report of “what appears to be a very large, significant avalanche event,” and knows it was human-triggered.

“Fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to the snowpack over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling today,” Klassen said. “This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle and bond.”

Canada has been hit with a string of fatal avalanches over the years with the deadliest being the March 4, 1910 slide which killed 59 CP Rail workers in Rogers Pass, near Revelstoke.

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