Boston

2 Boston Snowshoers Missing, Believed to be Victims of Avalanche

Two snowshoers from Boston have gone missing in Canada and are believed to have been killed in an avalanche.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Parks Canada said they are working to locate the two missing snowshoers, who are believed to have been caught in an avalanche in Banff National Park, north of Lake Louise, Alberta.

"We did pick up two signals from transceivers leading us to believe that the people are trapped in this avalanche debris and that is why we are calling it a recovery operation at this time," Parks Canada spokesperson Tania Peters said.

The identities of the missing people have not been released, but authorities say they are a man and a woman in their 30s. Their families have been notified.

"Our condolences really go out to them at this point," said Cpl. Curtis Peters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "It's tough being away from your family in a situation like this. I can't imagine what they're thinking. But we're going to work together with Parks to try and bring some closure to them."

The mounted police said they were notified by staff of a hotel on Tuesday that two registered guests from Boston had not checked out of their accomodations in Field, British Columbia.

Police later located a vehicle that the two people had rented at a trail head north of Lake Louise on Highway 93, near an area that had recently experienced an avalanche.

Avalanche conditions in the area remain high, which is preventing search teams from accessing the avalanche site. If the conditions improve in the coming days, a ground search will be conducted. An update is expected once the recovery operation is complete.

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