Teen dies after fall near Buntzen Lake
Posted June 27, 2018 11:24 pm.
Last Updated June 28, 2018 10:05 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
ANMORE (NEWS 1130) – A 16-year-old boy has died after a fall while hiking near Eagle Ridge in the Buntzen Lake area Wednesday evening.
Coquitlam Search and Rescue Manager Ray Nordstrand says the boy and a 19-year-old friend had been following a water feature when he fell.
He says they got the call at around 8:30 p.m., and they found the boys about a half hour later.
“Unfortunately, the subject was unconscious and had no pulse when it was called in to BC Ambulance, and the subject was deceased,” says Nordstrand.
“They were doing the Dilly Dally trail area,” he explains. “Somehow, along the line, they became disoriented and lost. The idea of following a water feature creek down to the road is what was drawing them in the route that they took — which was the absolute wrong direction to go.”
The area became steep and slippery.
“It’s much like a granite stairway. It sounds like at some point, he had a slip and fell,” says Nordstrand.
He adds crews could only get to the area by helicopter. “[Searchers] found that they had difficult time even standing in the same general area.”
Nordstrom says anyone going out for a hike should have, at minimum, a map and compass.
“And understand how to make use of those,” says Nordstrom.
“The subject’s friend had a cell phone and was not able to give us any kind of GPS coordinates off of that, which would have helped us to determine where they were. And if they would have, before, had a map and compass and known where they were, they would not have gone down that route.”
The victim has not been named.
