While the search for a man who fell over Twin Falls in Yoho National Park has been scaled back, rescue crews are hopeful they will recover his body to help bring his family some closure.
Parks Canada has called off an extensive ground search, but will continue to fly over the area every three days until the end of the month in the hope of recovering the 19-year-old’s body.
Officials say they’ve set up two containment areas in the river directly below the 100-metre falls to prevent the man’s body from being swept further downstream, and have also put a remote satellite camera there.
“We’ve essentially built a fence across the river to stop something from floating by,” said Grant Statham, visitor safety specialist for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay. “At the same time, we’ve set up a remote satellite camera at the upper containment area, so we’re getting photos.”
Friends have identified the young man as Jeremy Prendergast, of Calgary.
Prendergast was hiking Whaleback Trail to the top of Twin Falls with family and friends when he fell into the waterfall on Sept. 13.
Friends tried to rescue him as he desperately held onto a rock ledge, but it’s believed he lost his grip and fell 100m into the turbulent pools below.
Statham said he believes the man’s body is somewhere directly below the waterfall.
“The waterfall plunges 100 metres free fall, lands in a large pool, then continues with a series of steps, a couple of other waterfalls and large rapids,” said Statham, who is the incident commander for the recovery effort.
“We believe he’s in there somewhere. There is a chance he could be further down the river, but we think that’s unlikely. The main focus of the search is directly below the waterfall.”
Parks Canada mounted an exhaustive search on the ground and by air for three days after Prendergast fell. There were 12 rescuers, including Parks dog handler Mike Henderson and rescue dog Kaz.
Statham said it is a risky place to conduct a rescue, and there are no plans to resume ground searches unless they get a clue to an exact location.
“We can search pretty well from the air. We have a rescue pilot and we get very close to the water, just a couple metres above the surface of creek,” he said. “As soon as we identify something that leads us to believe where he is, we’d get on the ground.”
Statham said Parks remains hopeful they will recover the body as the water levels get lower in fall.
“When the water levels change, we’re optimistic we might get a chance to see him and recover his body,” he said. “We hope to recover his body to help his family.”
