Torrential rivers in the Upper Fraser region have claimed another life.
The body of a 21-year-old woman was pulled from Swift Current Creek near Mount Robson Provincial Park on Tuesday night, eight days after a 63-year-old woman slipped and fell into the Willow River about 40 kilometres east of Prince George.
With the spring snow melt swelling area rivers, North District RCMP Cst. Lesley Smith said it does not take much to get into trouble.
"It was either a slip on a rock or a misstep on the side of the river and then she was swept away," Smith said of Tuesday's incident.
The woman had little hope of saving herself.
"Within two to five minutes, hypothermia would have set in," Smith said. "It's an extremely cold river, the water level was extremely high and it was very dangerous."
Due to poor cell service in the area, Valemount RCMP received the call shortly before 9 p.m., about a half hour after the woman had fallen in.
Robson Valley Search and Rescue was called in to organize a search and kayakers briefly took to the water before retreating due to the danger, Smith said.
Shortly before 10 p.m., another person walking along the river saw the woman's body on a rocky sandbar in the middle of the river and search and rescue personnel from Jasper were called to the scene. The body was recovered by about 11:45 p.m.
The latest fatality comes as the provincial government's River Forecast Centre issued a flood warning for the Upper Fraser due to the high snow melt, saying river levels are currently at or near their peaks.
The body of the 63-year-old woman from Prince George has not yet been recovered. She fell into the Willow River on the early afternoon on May 7 where it passes underneath Highway 16 East and just up river from the Willow River Canyon.
Neither of the victims' names have yet been released.
