Deadly long weekend keeps first responders busy
Posted Jul 3, 2012 7:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There was no rest for emergency officials during a deadly holiday weekend across Alberta.
First responders were inundated with calls for help and rescue on area rivers and roadways.
The Calgary Fire Department was deployed on the Bow River late Monday afternoon after a raft flipped in the Harvie Passage, sending its four rafters into the water.
Three managed to make it to shore but the fourth was swept down the river; the man in his thirties was eventually pulled from the water near the 17th Street bridge, but later died in hospital.
All four were reportedly wearing life jackets.
Duty Insp. Paul Stacey tells 660News the Calgary Police Service marine unit is urging boaters to stay off the water until the levels can recede.
“We understand everyone’s desire to have fun,” he says. “We’re just saying that will come but let the river subside a little bit so it’s not a traumatic event but an enjoyable event, the way it’s meant to be.”
Mounties were also kept busy with incidents on the water after receiving a call about two children who had fallen into the water in Okotoks.
RCMP members, the HAWCS helicopter and CPS officers were deployed to Natures Hideaway to search the area with infrared cameras but came up empty-handed.
Police called off the search, adding there were no missing person reports filed and it was likely a hoax.
The three-day weekend also proved deadly on area roads after a single vehicle roll over in Cardston near the St. Mary Dam.
A Fort MacLeod man was pronounced dead at the scene, and his four passengers were rushed to a hospital in Lethbridge late Monday afternoon.
One of the passengers who was seriously hurt was later flown to a Calgary hospital by STARS.
Police believe speed and alcohol were both factors in the crash.
Twenty minutes later, Calgary police responded to a crash involving a motorcycle and a Toyota Corolla on Lower Springbank Road.
Investigators say it appears the bike hit the car, but it’s too early to determine if charges will be laid.
The driver was rushed to Foothills Hospital and remains in critical condition.
