B.C. coroner says one person dead following avalanche in B.C.’s north

STEWART, B.C. – The Coroners Service of British Columbia says one person is dead following an avalanche in the province’s northwest.

Coroner Barb McLintock says little is known about the incident except that it took place in a remote area and the closest community is Stewart, B.C., located near the border with Alaska, nearly 1,500 kilometres north of Vancouver.

McLintock says two people from an industrial camp were working when the avalanche hit.

She says one person escaped but the other did not, and a coroner from Terrace, B.C., is investigating the incident.

McLintock says its very early in the season for an avalanche to claim a life, noting the first fatality last year was reported in the middle of November.

That incident claimed the life of 40-year-old Dallas Shane Mayert, who was snowmobiling with a friends in the Torpy Mountain recreation area, about 100 kilometres northeast of Prince George, B.C.