New ice-caves video shows rapid melt day before fatal collapse
Published 6:58 am Friday, July 10, 2015
VERLOT — There’s new video of Big Four Ice Caves the day before a collapse there killed a hiker and injured five others. It artfully shows rapid melting that led to a collapse on Sunday, in which no one was hurt, and foreshadows the tragic event the next day.
On Monday, just a few hours before the fatal collapse, Sara Soleimani of Long Beach, California, posted her first video on You Tube, showing an overhang of snow and chunks of ice falling and four people scurrying out afterward. The Daily Herald and KIRO-TV posted that initial video from Sunday on the Web early Monday afternoon.
At that point, the video was a cautionary tale that reinforced previous warnings that the caves, where three people have died since the 1990s, including an 11-year-old girl, were particularly dangerous this year.
A few hours later on Monday, however, we heard 911 dispatchers on our newsroom scanner launch a major rescue operation to Big Four in response to the far bigger collapse. (First responders knew the area well, having conducted two exercises this year focusing on the Big Four Ice Caves.) The Monday collapse killed Anna Santana, 34, of Moreno Valley, California, and badly injured her boyfriend, Dustin Wilson, 35, as well as David Santana, 25, and three others.
Outdoors videographer Soleimani has since revisited her footage from Sunday and has produced a new video, including still pictures, showing the ominously rapid melt. Her new video has explanatory subtitles:
“I wish there was a way I could have sent my video to the news earlier to prevent that accident. … Although there are many warning signs around the area, I wish there was a way I could have warned them earlier.
“Nature is gracious and beautiful but there are times when nature shows us its other face, which is dangerous. It’s on us to be cautious.”
Chuck Taylor: 206-339-3429; ctaylor@heraldnet.com.
