Search continues for two missing people believe to be buried in Johnson Landing mudslide
By Bruce Fuhr
Search crews, under the direction of the BC Coroners Service, had no luck Tuesday finding the bodies of two missing people believe to be buried under tons of debris at the Johnson Landing mudslide.
“There was not a lot of progress at this point,” said Regional District of Central Kootenay Emergency Operations Centre spokesperson Francis Maika Tuesday.
“The focus has been the same which is on the two homes in the slide path,” Maika adds.
The coroners service said the body of a young woman was found under the debris field, under as much as 10 metres of nearly rock-hard mud Monday afternoon.
The body is believed the remains of either 17-year-old Rachel Webber or her 22-year-old sister, Diana.
A male, believed to be that of 60 year-old Valentine Webber — father of the two women — was found on Sunday, approximately three metres from Monday’s discovery.
The two bodies were found outside one the houses in close proximity to the residence.
SAR crews and recovery personnel are still searching for the second Webber sister and 64-year-old German visitor Petra Frehse.
Twenty-four members of the crew, using heavy equipment, have focused the search on the two houses. The crew starts daily at 7:30 a.m., searching until 5 p.m.
There are spotters watching the slide while the rest of the crew painstakingly work their way through the slide that measured 2,000 metres long, 100-200 metres wide and at least three to five metres deep.
