A search and rescue team in Kelowna, BC, says that a missing person was found dead on Saturday, about 155 feet (47 meters) deep in a lake, after being dragged into a “mass landslide” earlier this month.
The emergency operations of the Okanagan center said the landslide occurred in Westside Road around 9:45 pm PT on April 1, closing the road in both directions.
The slide sent more than 20,000 tons of debris through the road and to Lake Okanagan, according to the search and rescue of the center of Okanagan (Canar).
The search and rescue team responded to the scene on April 1 to assess whether someone could have been swept on the slide. Initially, no one was reported as missing, but a few days later, the team was told that a driver could have traveled through the area.
A fall in debris in the center of Okanagan has closed the only direct road between Vernon and West Kelowna. As Brady Strachan reports, it happened along the steep slopes where a forest fire burned trees and vegetation two years ago.
West Kelowna RCMP launched a missing person investigation, and the center of Okanagan and Vernon Sars began to look in the area.
RCMP said some “unique articles” that are believed to belong to the missing person had been located in the area.
The Sewing Search Manager, Ed Henzel, told CBC News last week that the teams had swept from the area at the time of the slide, even by boat, but the sediment in the water had prevented them from doing a complete evaluation.
He said the articles found that they carried researchers to believe that a person was swept on the slide included a boot that coincided with the size of the disappeared person’s shoe, the interior panels of a vehicle, propane boats, a refrigerator and a hydromassage bathtub cover.
Henczel said the slide had been caused by a normally small stream that had passed, which led to a significant accumulation of water.
“When he exploded, he was hitting trees seven meters high … starting massive soil trees,” he said.
“It was great.”
The search and rescue team says that almost 1,000 volunteer hours passed on land and in the water to look for the missing individual, with drones, boats and dogs deployed in the area.
The team says that the missing driver and the vehicle were found in the water on Saturday, and the RCMP submarine recovery equipment would complete the recovery.
“Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of the deceased,” he said in a statement.
RCMP did not respond to a request for comments before the publication.
