Vancouver mayor praises rescuers as recovery efforts to resume after landslide
July 24, 2012 - 2:33 PM
VANCOUVER - Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has thanked the city's rescue team members for recovering two bodies from southeastern B.C., where the search for another victim of a massive landslide is set to resume this week.
The Urban Search and Rescue team found the bodies of a 60-year-old man and his 22-year-old daughter near their home in Johnsons Landing last week, but a 17-year-old member of that family remains missing.
Robertson says the knowledge gained in the recovery operation will be useful should a catastrophic event ever hit Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Vancouver Fire Chief John McKearney, who helped oversee the effort, says the response highlighted the need for federal support of professional search and rescue organizations.
The slide was the first dispatch for the team — also known as Canada Task Force 1 — since it was reorganized, and McKearney says having professional rescuers helped to speed up the operation.
A 64-year-old German woman remains missing but technical experts have said there's no reasonable possibility of finding her body because her home was so severely hit by the slide.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012