One
person was killed and five others injured when an ice cave collapsed Monday in
a national forest in northwest Washington state.
The collapse took place at the
Big Four Ice Caves in theMount
Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, a popular spot for people wanting
to get away from the heat.
"It's not illegal to go
in the caves. However, we've been saying since mid-May, it's extremely
dangerous with all this hot weather," said Shari Ireton with the Snohomish
County Sheriff's Office
She said the heat weakens the
caves and makes the ice more prone to melting.
"There was a large pile
of ice and rock that came down," she said. "So it wasn't just one big
slab. ... It wasn't a piece of a shelf coming off."
The Snohomish County Sheriff's
Office identified the person who died as a 34-year-old woman. Her body is at
the back of the cave, and authorities said a safe recovery of it will be
difficult, given the dangerous conditions.
Two men, a woman and two girls
were also injured. The injuries to the adults were "severe," with leg
and pelvic fractures, Ireton said.
Three of those hurt were
treated at Harborview Medical Center, and all of them appear to have improved,
according to the Seattle hospital.
One of them, a 35-year-old
woman, was treated and released Monday night.
A 25-year-old man is in an
intensive care unit there, having been upgraded from critical to serious
condition, the hospital said Tuesday. And a 35-year-old man has been moved out
of ICU after going from serious to satisfactory condition.
Monday's death was the first
at the caves since a chunk of
ice crushed an
11-year-old girl in 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment