Teenage girls die in Alberta river accident

SPRING COULEE , Alta. — Two teenage girls died and one is missing after a boating accident in southern Alberta.

George Waldner, from the Spring Valley Hutterite Colony, said the girls were from the colony. Everyone there was in shock, he said.

“Words can’t describe how heavy it is,” Waldner said Thursday. He did did not want to identify the three girls out of respect for their families.

He said other Hutterite colonies from other parts of the province and Saskatchewan had arrived to support people who are grieving. “Everybody is tight in the community,” Waldner said. “Relatives show up and everybody comes together.”

A group of teens were on the Saint Mary River around Spring Coulee, Alta., about halfway between Lethbridge and the U.S. border, on Wednesday evening. Waldner said they were all close friends.

They were drifting on the river in aluminum boats that are a little bigger than canoes, he said. “The river was a little higher, which makes it fun and that’s what young people do,” Waldner said. “But it was a little too aggressive and I don’t think they knew the river was swift like that.”

RCMP Cpl. Tammy Keibel said the two girls found dead were 16 and 17. She said the missing girl is about the same age.

The girls, who were at the river with seven other people, had trouble trying to get out of the water, RCMP said.

Keibel said the body of the 17-year-old was first discovered, and two other girls had been swept away.

Officers from several RCMP detachments and members of Lethbridge Search and Rescue worked into the night.

The body of the 16-year-old girl was found Thursday morning and efforts continued to find the remaining teen.