Edmonton

Alberta man victim of B.C. slide

A 45-year-old man from Rycroft, Alta., was identified Wednesday as the victim of a weekend avalanche near Chetwynd, B.C

 A 45-year-old man from Rycroft, Alta., was identified Wednesday by RCMP as the victim of a weekend avalanche near Chetwynd, B.C.

Harold Keith Waldner was part of a group of 14 people snowmobiling in the remote area when the avalanche hit.

Five men were caught in the slide, which was estimated to be three metres deep and one-third of a kilometre long.

Four of them were dug out alive, but safety concerns forced the group to leave the area.

Waldner's body was recovered on Monday afternoon.

Waldner's death was one of two avalanche fatalities in B.C. on Sunday.

A 24-year-old man died in a slide near Sicamous, which is on the Trans-Canada Highway between Kamloops and Revelstoke in the southern Interior of B.C.

The man was snowmobiling with two others when they were caught in the slide.

13 people have been killed in avalanches around B.C. this winter. On Dec. 28, eight snowmobilers died in a series of avalanches near the southeastern B.C. community of Fernie.

With files from the Canadian Press