Menu

Topics

Connect

Comments

Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.

3 victims who went missing at Shannon Falls identified after bodies found in pool of water

WATCH: Search-and-rescue crews have recovered the bodies of three people who died when they fell into pools at Shannon Falls near Squamish. Ted Chernecki has more on the tricky and dangerous recovery mission – Jul 4, 2018

Ryker Gamble, Alexey Lyakh and Megan Scraper have been identified as the three people found dead after they went missing at Shannon Falls on Tuesday.

Story continues below advertisement

Squamish RCMP confirmed their bodies were located in a pool of water after the three fell from one of the pools atop Shannon Falls, south of Squamish.

It all started Tuesday in the noon hour near the top of the 335-metre waterfall, when a young woman was trying to swim and she slipped and fell. Her boyfriend and another friend went in after her.

LISTEN: Three people fall from pools atop Shannon Falls
Click here to view
The trio fell 30 metres into a pool below, that’s about halfway up the falls.

RCMP confirm the three people were all B.C. residents and were with a group of seven people when the incident happened.

Story continues below advertisement

WATCH: Tragedy at Shannon Falls

Ryker Gamble. Facebook

Gamble and Lyakh were high school friends who created video content for High on Life Sundayfundayz, a YouTube channel where they would chronicle their travels around the world.

Story continues below advertisement

Early last year, Gamble, Lyakh and fellow High on Life contributor Justis Price Brown were banned from U.S. federal lands for five years after they pleaded guilty to walking on a sensitive hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Click here to view

Gamble and Lyakh were ordered to spend a week behind bars and pay thousands of dollars in fines, restitution and community service.

On Tuesday, crews worked throughout the day to recover the bodies, which RCMP said were in a very dangerous location.

Story continues below advertisement
“At around 8:30 p.m. [Tuesday] night teams were able to confirm the location of the three people in one of the lower pools,” Squamish RCMP Cpl. Sascha Banks said.

“The RCMP and Squamish SAR have transitioned to a recovery of the bodies from the pool but the terrain is extremely difficult, very dangerous, and the water flow will be heavy with the warm temperatures today, increasing the risk to those in the recovery effort.”

Squamish RCMP says this a “very tough and tragic day for everyone involved.”

Coverage of the search at Shannon Falls Tuesday:

.
Story continues below advertisement

John Willcox with Squamish Search and Rescue said they have noticed a spike in emergency calls since the opening of the nearby Sea to Sky Gondola.

“Being able to provide that access to people, and all the hiking above the gondola, is fabulous,” he said. “But along with that comes some pretty severe terrain and unless people are educated, equipped [and] trained to access some of these areas it has the potential for great risk.”

— With files from Jon Azpiri, Ted Cherneckik, Jesse Ferreras and The Associated Press

Advertisement

You are viewing an Accelerated Mobile Webpage.

View Original Article