Searchers recover body of third landslide victim in southeastern B.C.

JOHNSONS LANDING, B.C. – Rescuers have recovered the body of a third victim who was killed after her family’s home was levelled by a huge landslide in a southeastern British Columbia community.

Coroner Lisa LaPointe says 17-year-old Rachel Webber’s body was found around supper time last night near the front of what had been her home in the hamlet of Johnsons Landing.

LaPointe thanked everyone involved in the search, including volunteers and a forensic analyst who pinpointed the best locations to search in a debris field that covers more than 32 hectares.

The bodies of Webber’s father and older sister were found in the same area last week.

The search for Webber resumed yesterday after rescue crews determined it was safe enough to go into the tiny Kootenay Lake area that was hit by the slide on July 12 after torrential rain led a mountain to give way.

A 64-year-old Gernan woman is also missing, but the search for her body has ended because her home is completely gone and the pile of rubble is 10 metres deep.