Two people have died following a horrific rockslide at Canada’s Banff National Park.
The deadly landslide took place at around 1:30pm on Thursday and ‘multiple hikers’ were caught in it, the Lake Louise Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.
The first body was recovered shortly after, while another was discovered by search parties on Friday afternoon.
Three others were injured, but are now in stable condition as rescuers continue to search for survivors at the site of the rockfall near Bow Glacier Falls, north of Lake Louise.
‘We feel that everyone has been identified and accounted for,’ RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney told Daily Mail, allaying previous fears the death toll was set to rise.
Jutta Hinrichs, 70, a retired clinical educator in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the University of Alberta, was the first victim recovered on Thursday.
Hinrichs’ friends told Global News that she had just returned to Canada from Peru last Friday, describing her ‘a beautiful, caring soul with a huge smile and love of people and nature.’
RCMP has not formally released the identities if the deceased, stating that they are ‘notifying their next of kin’.
However the authorities disclosed that the first victim was a 70-year-old woman.
Video posted online of the incident showed a large shelf of stone rocketing down a mountainside, which then caused a huge cloud of gray dust to rise into the air.
One photo taken by a hiker nearby showed the debris cloud billowing up. At least one person could be seen frighteningly close to the devastating scene.
The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) dispatched two helicopters for the three injured hikers and transported each patient one by one to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary yesterday.
Niclas Brundell told CBC News he was hiking in the area with his wife when the rockfall happened. He estimated that the rockfall was 160 feet wide and 30 feet deep.
‘We heard this like ‘chunk’ noise and the whole roof of the wall came loose,’ he said.
‘And we just started sprinting down. I was yelling at my wife, ‘Go, go, go! We need to run as fast as we can,” Brundell recalled.
‘We just kept sprinting and I couldn’t see the people behind us anymore because they were all in that cloud of rock. And I saw rocks coming tumbling out of that. So it was, it was big. It was, like, the full mountainside,’ he said.
He said there may have been about 15 to 20 people around at the time.
Another hiker in the area, Kamala Dixon, captured dramatic footage of the rockslide happening in real time and later posted it to social media.
‘The Falls were waaay [sic] bigger than normal and flowing very fast,’ she wrote on Facebook.
‘I felt something wasn’t right and when I heard the crack I turned around expecting to see a few rocks, instead total devastation.’
Bow Lake, about 22 miles away from Lake Louise on the Icefields Parkway, has been closed by authorities. A no-fly zone has also been established in the area.
Bow Glacier Falls, near where the rockslide occurred, is less than two miles southwest of Bow Lake and is accessible via a hiking trail.
Banff National Park and the Icefields Parkway remain open to the public, but drivers have been told to expect intermittent traffic near Bow Lake where rescue efforts are still being mounted.
‘Parks Canada and RCMP are deeply saddened by this tragic incident. Our hearts go out to the friends and families of all involved. Updates will be provided as more information comes available,’ the two agencies said in their joint statement.
Alberta’s premier, Danielle Smith, shared a statement as well, offering her condolences to the families affected by this tragic natural disaster.
‘I am deeply saddened to learn of the tragic event at Bow Glacier Falls, north of Banff, today,’ she posted on X. ‘We are thinking of all those involved and wishing for their safety as we await further details.’
‘On behalf of Alberta’s government, I also want to offer my most sincere gratitude to the emergency crews including search and rescue teams, and @STARSambulance for responding quickly,’ she added.
One of Hinrichs’ colleagues, Masako Miyazaki, posted on Facebook announcing her passing and said, ‘her loss is a profound one for our community.’
Miyazaki, another occupational therapy professor at the University of Alberta, described Hinrichs, as ‘kind, compassionate, and deeply nurturing.’
Hinrichs had been an occupational therapist for over 36 years and had 25 years of experience teaching and being a university administrator, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The University of Alberta released a statement on Hinrichs’ death on Friday afternoon offering ‘its heartfelt sympathy to Jutta’s family, friends, former students and colleagues as they navigate the profound loss of their loved one.’
‘Jutta was a dedicated leader and educator in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine’s Department of Occupational Therapy from September 2012 until her retirement last July,’ the statement said.
‘She was integral to developing a southern Alberta satellite for the department, growing it from the seeds of her deep clinical and leadership experience in the Calgary area.
‘As an educator, Jutta nurtured many students, preceptors and clinicians to flourish and grow. That her work continues to enrich the tapestry of occupational therapy in Alberta is her legacy,’ the statement concluded.
