Mudslide traps 500 tourists in Canadian ski resort
Access road destroyed, leaving helicopter as only way out of
Montreal: Some 500 tourists were trapped inside a ski resort in western Canada on Sunday after a mudslide destroyed the access road, local media reported.
Heavy rains knocked loose mud and debris, and the ensuing mudslide washed out about one kilometre of the only access road to the Sasquatch Mountain Resort, the British Columbia transportation ministry said in a statement.
It said that clearing the road could take five to six days and urged local residents to stay at home while they waited for the work to be completed.
“We’re pretty much at the mercy of Mother Nature,” said Shelby Lim, a resort manager, in an interview with the CBC.
She added that the resort, which is about 96.5km east of Vancouver, had lost power due to inclement weather but had backup generators.
Lim also noted that the vacationers could leave the resort via a helicopter service, which cost about $150 per person.
About 100 people had used or intended to use the helicopter service to leave, the CBC reported, but the rest had decided to stay put and wait for the road to reopen.