Sunday (May 19) was a busy one for the volunteers with Squamish Search and Rescue (SSAR).The most serious incident saw three people transported by helicopter to Vancouver General Hospital after the vehicle in which they were travelling careened down a 100-foot embankment at Mile 37 of the Squamish Valley Road, SSAR vice-president B.J. Chute said.
The most serious incident saw three people transported by helicopter to Vancouver General Hospital after the vehicle in which they were travelling careened down a 100-foot embankment at Mile 37 of the Squamish Valley Road, SSAR vice-president B.J. Chute said.
B.C. Ambulance Service and Squamish Fire Rescue Service also responded to the call, which came in to BCAS at 2:42 p.m., BCAS spokesperson Lisa Pilling said.
The vehicle came to rest about 100 feet below the road and all three were out of the vehicle and conscious when SSAR personnel reached them by helicopter long line, Chute said.
The three were then prepped and lifted to safety by long line, Chute said. They were then taken to VGH in critical condition, Pilling said. No information about the injured persons' identities was available.
Just before that incident, SSAR members responded to a hiker who needed help after having broken an ankle near the base of the Stawamus Chief trail, Chute said.
The call about the Squamish Valley Road crash came in just as rescuers were dealing with the hiker's injury. Then, as they were dealing with the Squamish Valley Road crash, SSAR was notified that a group of hikers had sent out a distress beacon from the Elfin Lakes area of Garibaldi Provincial Park, Chute said.
The group took went down the wrong drainage on its return from Elfin Lakes and sent out the distress signal late Sunday. Lions Bay Search and Rescue was asked to assist and sent hikers in after the group. SSAR, though, ultimately reached the group by helicopter early Monday (May 20), flying right to the location of the distress signal and transporting the hikers to safety, Chute said.
Our team has been going for about 22 hours. We're just shut down now, he said.
