A teenager has died after falling from a cliff in Lynn Canyon.
On Sunday around 3 p.m., District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services got a call that someone had fallen in the area.
Three fire trucks were sent in, and firefighters started looking for the fallen person, who they learned was a 17-year-old male from Windsor, Ont.
He was with two friends, who told firefighters that he hopped a fence to take pictures or get a better look of the canyon, said Assistant Fire Chief Dwayne Derban.
Eventually, the first responders found the fallen youth, just downstream from the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge.
“It was pretty obvious that he was hurt seriously,” Derban said.
It’s not clear whether the youth slipped or the bank gave way, he said, adding that firefighters recovered his body from the canyon below.
Derban said the group was quite a ways off the official path.
“Everything is pretty obviously fenced,” he said. “It’s pretty obvious you shouldn’t go over.”
Derban said the deceased’s friends were shocked to learn of his passing.
“My condolences go out to them and the family of boy who lost his life, back in Windsor,” he said.
Reflecting on his own experience, Derban said he recently marked the 80th anniversary of the passing of his uncle, who died in the area in 1944 when he was 16 years old.
“Here we are 80 years later mourning a family member,” he said. “Don’t underestimate the impact this will have on the family you leave behind.”
