A survivor of a rockfall last week in Banff National Park is remembering his 33-year-old roommate and friend who didn’t make it out alive from under the rubble.
Khaled Elgamal, 28, of Surrey, B.C., says Hamza Benhilal was one of two people who died after a slab of mountain gave way last Thursday, raining rock down on hikers at Bow Glacier Falls, about 200 kilometres northwest of Calgary.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Elgamal said he was visiting Banff with Benhilal, an engineer, when they heard the loud sound of rocks dislodging. They began running to safety but did not get out of the way in time.
He said he was crushed by the chunks of rock and is recovering in a Calgary hospital from a fractured pelvis and shoulder. Benhilal did not survive.
“He was very kind, generous and very supportive,” Elgamal said in an interview Monday.
“He was like my big brother. He always had a smile on his face. He was very open to the world because he had travelled so much.”
Benhilal is one of two hikers who died in the rockfall. The other person was identified last week as 70-year-old Jutta Hinrichs, a retired university professor from Calgary.
Parks Canada has closed the area around the falls and has said nothing could have prevented or predicted the rockfall.
The Bow Glacier Falls hiking trail is a nine-kilometre route running along the edges of Bow Lake. It is considered a moderate challenge for hikers and is used by tourists and day-trippers, including families.
