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Royal Canadian Airforce 442 Squadron Based In Honoured

Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 8:10 AM

By Jay Herrington

A woman stranded by landslides near Agassiz, B.C., is pulled into a helicopter by Canadian Forces members on Nov. 15, 2021. (PHOTO Submitted by Cory Lysohirka)

The Royal Canadian Airforce 442 squadron based in Comox has been honoured by a pilots group based in the U-K for efforts to rescue people trapped by landslides on Highway 7 last year.

The squadron has been given the Barry Marsden Memorial Award for outstanding performance in a time of exceptional distress.

The company said the squadron, based in Comox, B.C., showed exceptional dedication to rescue 311 people, 26 dogs and a cat that were trapped by landslides on Highway 7 near Agassiz.

A series of atmospheric rivers stalled over the province last November, flooding communities, washing away highways and prompting several landslides, including one that killed five people.

A statement from the company says the Cormorant crews were able to land on the highway in deteriorating weather and gale-force winds, despite the congestion and debris caused by the slides.

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The word "éy7á7juuthem" means “Language of our People” and is the ancestral tongue of the Homalco, Tla’amin, Klahoose and K’ómoks First Nations, with dialectic differences in each community.

It is pronounced "eye-ya-jooth-hem."