Eight snowmobilers were feared dead Sunday night, buried in deep snow where three others were rescued after an avalanche near Fernie, B.C.
While details of the incident remained vague, RCMP Cpl. Andy Veltmeyer said that eight people were still buried late Sunday, and B.C.'s Interior Health Authority confirmed there had been casualties.
However, the exact number of the casualties wasn't immediately known.
As the sun dropped behind B.C.'s interior mountains, rescue teams were forced to call off the search for the night, according to some reports.
The avalanche occurred Sunday afternoon in rugged territory about 300 kilometres southwest of Calgary, between the resort town of Fernie and Sparwood, B.C.
Jennifer Henkes, a spokeswoman from B.C.'s Interior Health Authority, confirmed that three snowmobilers had been rescued from the avalanche and were taken to hospital.
She noted that two of the rescued were discharged from hospital and that one person was in stable condition.
"We do have one survivor in the Elk Valley Hospital," she said. "That person is being kept overnight for observation."
There were several avalanches in the area Sunday as the Canadian Avalanche Centre warned on its website that high winds and new storm snow could "overload the weak snowpack" for the next few days.
"Mountain conditions, especially around Fernie ... have changed and we're now seeing avalanches starting to affect this region," the centre said on its website.
"Soft slabs are building at all elevations, and these will become more reactive to human-triggering ... over the coming days."
With files from The Canadian Press
