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American Morning

Avalanche Deaths

Aired January 21, 2003 - 09:11   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A tragedy in Western Canada, seven skiers killed when they were buried by an avalanche yesterday.
Lillian Kim in the small town of Revelstoke near the scene.

Lillian, hello to you, and good morning.

LILLIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

We are at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police office here in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The RCMP is the agency that has been leading the search-and-rescue effort. The seven people who perished in that avalanche include three Americans, two from California, one from Colorado. They were part of a group of 21 back country skiers. One other was buried in snow, three others partially, but they are all said to be in good condition. They were all skiing down the Duran (ph) Glacier of the Sellkirk (ph) Mountains when the snow broke loose, making it deadliest avalanche in British Columbia in 10 years.

The area where they were skiing is described as very remote and very wild, elevation about 6,000 feet. They were accompanied by guides, and reportedly had to undergo basic avalanche rescue training before heading down the mountain.

We've also been told that all of the skiers were equipped with avalanche beacons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. RANDY BROWN, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: They were able to, if they're caught under snow, they set off a transmitting signal, and with a receiver, you're able to locate them, and that's, from what I understand, talking to one of the investigators who did provide some information, is that with the emitters going off, they were very, very successful in locating all of the victims very, very quickly.

Unfortunately, they were buried under such a significant amount of snow, rescue efforts, I mean, with what shovels they did have and skis, they were just too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: Now the seven killed were brought down the mountain. The survivors, however, remain at a chalet at the top of the glacier, unable to be brought down yesterday due to bad weather conditions. The plan is to possibly bring them down later today -- Bill.

HEMMER: Tough, tough story. Lillian Kim in British Columbia, the town of Revelstoke, for us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 21, 2003 - 09:11   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A tragedy in Western Canada, seven skiers killed when they were buried by an avalanche yesterday.
Lillian Kim in the small town of Revelstoke near the scene.

Lillian, hello to you, and good morning.

LILLIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Bill.

We are at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police office here in Revelstoke, British Columbia. The RCMP is the agency that has been leading the search-and-rescue effort. The seven people who perished in that avalanche include three Americans, two from California, one from Colorado. They were part of a group of 21 back country skiers. One other was buried in snow, three others partially, but they are all said to be in good condition. They were all skiing down the Duran (ph) Glacier of the Sellkirk (ph) Mountains when the snow broke loose, making it deadliest avalanche in British Columbia in 10 years.

The area where they were skiing is described as very remote and very wild, elevation about 6,000 feet. They were accompanied by guides, and reportedly had to undergo basic avalanche rescue training before heading down the mountain.

We've also been told that all of the skiers were equipped with avalanche beacons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. RANDY BROWN, ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE: They were able to, if they're caught under snow, they set off a transmitting signal, and with a receiver, you're able to locate them, and that's, from what I understand, talking to one of the investigators who did provide some information, is that with the emitters going off, they were very, very successful in locating all of the victims very, very quickly.

Unfortunately, they were buried under such a significant amount of snow, rescue efforts, I mean, with what shovels they did have and skis, they were just too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: Now the seven killed were brought down the mountain. The survivors, however, remain at a chalet at the top of the glacier, unable to be brought down yesterday due to bad weather conditions. The plan is to possibly bring them down later today -- Bill.

HEMMER: Tough, tough story. Lillian Kim in British Columbia, the town of Revelstoke, for us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com