Bodies recovered from Shannon Falls

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Squamish Search and Rescue confirms that crews have pulled all three bodies of the missing hikers out of the water at Shannon Falls.

A young woman was swept into one of the pools at about noon Tuesday and her boyfriend and another man tried to save her and all fell in. Their friends reported seeing them carried over the lip of one pool and into a second,

“We used a helicopter to fly RCMP and our members up and send in a load of gear which we needed to do this double rope rescue and insert the divers,” explains John Wilcox with the Squamish Search and Rescue.

“The RCMP were able to send their members in, secure and remove the three subjects.”

The bodies have been handed over to the coroner. Wilcox is using the opportunity to remind people to be safe if they’re out hiking at Shannon Falls.

“Areas like Shannon Falls have very polished granite, it’s very slippery with the mist and the lichen and etc that builds up around there–going in or near those pools has great risk. It’s a very unfortunate circumstance hopefully we can all learn from.”

He says crews are known to rescue people who have slipped in the area where hikers often fill their water bottles after spending a few hours traversing a strenuous trail. Willcox adds dogs and people have slipped into the water but have been helped out before, but this is the first time he’s aware of anybody going over the falls.

Victim Identified

Meantime, we are learning more about one of the people who died, after falling into one of the pools of Shannon Falls near Squamish yesterday.

According to posts on social media, Vancouver-based travel blogger Ryker Gamble was one of the people killed.

He had been hiking with two other people when the trio was swept into one of the pools at the falls. The other two have not been identified yet.

Many have been taking to Gamble’s Instagram page to leave their condolences. One person says he opened the eyes of so many to the beauty of nature, and his inspiration will be missed.

 

You might recognize Gamble from one of his most watched videos on his YouTube page High on Life. The video where he and his friends are jumping off cliffs in Lynn Canyon went viral three years ago.

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