FRIDAY JULY 20, 2012
www.pqbnews.com
STORYBOOK VILLAGE
FIRST STEP’S A DOOZY
A Qualicum Beach facility is open for young business
Airborn adventure is just a short drive away
A17
A5
Tragedy on the river NEIL HORNER
news@pqbnews.com
The BC Coroners Service this week confirmed the identity of a man who drowned in a rafting accident in the Stamp River near Port Alberni on July 15. The man is Cory Donald Heinz, aged 22, from Qualicum Beach. Heinz had travelled to the Stamp Falls Provincial Park and was rafting with two female friends on the Stamp River when he was thrown from the makeshift raft that he and his friends had made.
SUSAN QUINN PHOTO
Emergency crews raced to the Stamp River Sunday.
RCMP said the three were unfamiliar with the river and entered the water above the falls. All three went over the falls. Heinz was pulled from the river by passersby but was pronounced dead at the scene by BC Ambulance Service personnel. The two Qualicum Beach women he was tubing with were rescued by Alberni Search and Rescue See STAMP, page A7
water rescue technicians, who repelled down the steep banks with kayaks as one of the women clung to a rock in the river and the other huddled on a ledge on the opposite side of the river. Although the two women were severely traumatized, they were otherwise uninjured. Stamp Falls is considered a class five rapid, meaning it should only be tackled by the most experienced kayakers, if at all, and then only with the use of proper safety equipment. Witnesses saw Heinz floating face down past the area where the girls were rescued, and he was brought to shore by civilians in the area at Slide Pool, Alberni Valley Rescue Squad spokesperson Mark Palmer said. None of the three were apparently wearing life jackets. Palmer said the rescue and recovery efforts were among the most complicated he has ever seen in the 12 years he has been a squad member. Volunteer swift water rescue technicians were dispatched to Stamp Falls, where they had to rappel down the steep canyon walls to reach the two women. One of the women was in the water clinging to a rock and the other was trapped on a small ledge about six metres above the waterline.
NEIL HORNER PHOTO
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP: Parksville firefighters hoist an injured swimmer to the top of a cliff at Top Bridge Regional Park Tuesday. See page A6 for details.
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