The family and friends of a man who went missing in the Johnston Canyon area of Banff National Park on Friday, May 1, are expressing some frustration over the decision to end the search for him, after he was presumed to have drowned.
The man’s girlfriend, Nicolette Babbe, identified the missing man as 25-year-old Pavlo Shemchuk, who was originally from Ukraine, but has been living in Pennsylvania and Arizona for the past few years.
RCMP said they received a call around 6:40 p.m. on Friday from someone who told them a man had jumped into the rapids in Johnston Canyon — a popular tourist spot, located about 30 minutes west of the town of Banff — but he didn’t resurface.
On Monday, Parks Canada announced, following an extensive search of the river and area, recovery efforts were being suspended and the man was presumed to have died.
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Searchers said the frigid water combined with the high water levels of spring runoff made it hazardous to continue.
Parks Canada also announced Monday that the trails and area, which had been closed during the search, have also been reopened to the public.
On Tuesday, the victim’s girlfriend sent a email to Global News saying “very little information has been provided regarding whether search operations will resume.”
“This is an extremely difficult time for the family,” said Babbe, adding that Shemchuk’s family is “urgently seeking public awareness and support in hopes of continuing search efforts and bringing him home.”
Global News sent an inquiry to Parks Canada asking if and when efforts to recover the man’s body might resume.
Parks Canada responded with an emailed statement that said “Parks Canada Visitor Safety specialists, supported by law enforcement and partner agencies, conducted an extensive search of the area, including the upper and lower pools at the Lower Falls. Despite these efforts, the individual has not been located.”
“Due to ongoing hazardous water conditions, all feasible search efforts have been exhausted at this time, and recovery operations have been suspended,” the statement added.
As for the possibility of people searching for the missing man on their own, Parks Canada said it “advises the public to remain on designated trails for their own safety and the safety of others, and not to put themselves at risk by going off trail.”
Any relevant information or reports, said the statement, should be directed to Banff Dispatch emergency at 403-762-4506.
Once heavy spring melt has slowed and water conditions have become less hazardous I’m sure Banff will arrange for search a rescue dive teams for recovery. Hopefully there will be some closure for the family between mid June and mid July.
Sincere Condolences to Family and Friends in the loss of your Loved One Pavlo Shemchuk :(
I fully agree with the authorities. It would not be reasonable to risk the lives of responders as a consequence of the man’s poor judgement to risk his own life. Tragic but not worth other lives.
Nat…there is a huge difference between a child doing something stupid then an adult choosing to do something stupid…. An adult should no better 🙄. I feel for the family. So sad
My question is: WHYYYY would you JUMP into rapids of a canyon?!
Are they going to pay the expense of this demand?? Because I’m not interested in MY tax dollars being wasted on someone who came to visit and made the choice to do something stupid. I’m on with the professionals who know what they’re doing stopping when they feel the situation is unsafe. They can resume when they feel it is safe to do so. Otherwise the family and/or friends of this amazingly intelligent tourist can pay for their own search.
Nat
They will recover the body when it is safe to do so.
If search efforts have done what they can, why should people put themselves at further risk and waste resources because this guy made a poor choice when there was clearly a risk to jumping into rapids in the first place?
Darwin ALWAYS wins.
This man chose to jump into a very dangerous situation. A search and rescue was launched immediately and all that could be done was done. His body will surface eventually. Sorry for the loss to the family but this man chose a stupid game and won the stupid prize.
It’s pretty selfish of the family of a selfish person to send people into danger for a recovery of a dead body.
So he jumped in to the water and now parks Canada is expected to put their rescuers at risk?
People in the comments are so ignorant and evil. I will watch you lose your loved one to this stupid mistake and feel abandoned by the entire country showing their backs to your problem. We are social creatures, and when a child goes missing, we search far and wide. We can blame the child too, he was dumb to wonder off, why should we “waste resources” because of the idiot child… Looks like people have double standards when it comes to searching for missing people. I’m an immigrant myself and hate to see another fellow immigrant’s life being disregarded in this way. At least find his body, he didn’t get lost in the ocean for god sake.
Please, police should seriously examine girlfriend and “reported” deceased boyfriend. Very stinky story.
If they want to pay for it then have at her. We should already be billing for this ridiculous behavior that costs us so much in resources.
Why should we waste resources. On someone who had such a flagrant disregard for for life. Or perhaps this was a way out of the world for him.
From the title it is hard to understand who is searching for whom
More people don’t need to endanger themselves. Why the heck would he jump into the freezing cold rapids?! Very stupid decision!
So recovery teams are supposed to put themselves in danger and that’s acceptable to this family?
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!!