Crews keep up search for German national, young woman, in B.C. landslide debris

JOHNSONS LANDING, B.C. – Search-and-rescue crews are continuing their work with heavy equipment and excavators to recover the remains of two people who remain unaccounted for after a landslide in southeastern B.C.

The B.C. Coroners Service is co-ordinating efforts to find 64-year-old Petra Frehse and a young woman whose sister and father were also victims in last Thursday’s slide.

So far, the bodies of 60-year-old Valentine Webber and one of his two daughters have been located, though authorities have not confirmed whether the woman is 17-year-old Rachel Webber or 22-year-old Diana Webber.

The coroner says crews are focusing their efforts on the area where those remains were found and around the foundation of the cabin where Frehse, a German national, lived.

About 24 people are currently involved in the search.

Three homes were destroyed when a creek burst and sent a powerful cascade of mud and trees rushing down onto the remote hamlet, about 80 kilometres northeast of Nelson, B.C.