Senior faculty members of a San Francisco-area high school flew to British Columbia Monday morning after one of its students plunged to his death during a graduation music field trip in Vancouver this weekend.
Although the victim has not been identified by police, a Facebook page dedicated to his memory names him as 17-year-old Daniel Cho.
Dozens of classmates from Aragon High School were standing on a viewing platform on west side of the Capilano suspension bridge in North Vancouver about an hour before closing Sunday night when one of the teens fell over the side, plunging more than 30 metres into the rocky canyon.
Firefighters and emergency responders used ropes and long line to reach the teenager but he was already dead by the time help arrived.
"Emergency responders attended the scene and undertook a very difficult high-angle rescue attempt. Unfortunately the male had fallen to his death and this is now a coroner's investigation," said Insp. Davis Wendell of the North Vancouver RCMP.
Investigators say the area where the boy fell is surrounded by protective fencing and dotted with warning signs about the steep cliffs.
"The platform does have a railing four to four-and-a-half feet high," Wendell said. "And it did not fail to my knowledge."
North Vancouver RCMP said officers would interview students to reconstruct the moments leading up to the accident.
"It's hard to say exactly what happened in those moments before the death," Const. Mike McLaughlin told reporters Monday afternoon.
"We have to be careful of jumping to conclusions. We have to look at all the facts, take a deep breath and take a hard look at all the facts."
McLaughlin said there were chaperones on the trip, but he did not know if there were any in the immediate area. Investigators will probe if weather conditions were a factor.
Cho was visiting Canada along with 104 other students as part of a graduation trip from Aragon High School in San Mateo, a large suburb roughly 15 miles south of San Francisco. The group was accompanied by seven teachers and 17 volunteer chaperones.
The group arrived yesterday on a bus chartered through Hesselgrave Tours based in Bellingham, Washington, just south of the B.C. border. The group, consisting of band, orchestra and choir members from all grades, was scheduled to visit Killarney Secondary School in Vancouver Monday as part of a musical exchange program. The students were due to visit and perform in Victoria on Wednesday.
Aragon's principal and two other staff members are now in Vancouver to decide whether to terminate the trip early.
Killarney Secondary School staff and the RCMP are offering the students counselling. Their hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, opened up conference rooms for the group to use.
Matt Bigger, associate superintendent of instruction for the San Mateo Union High School District, said the accident comes as a huge shock.
"Our thoughts and condolences are with the family," he said. "We are very saddened by this."
The student group has toured extensively as part of their music program, with their department travelling to Beijing, China, for the 2008 Olympic Games.
The narrow bridge, a 137-metre pedestrian link that sits 70 metres above the Capilano River, is one of Vancouver's oldest and most popular tourist attractions.
The bridge, which was built in 1956 in only five days, draws more than 800,000 visitors each year.
"Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the guest who died tragically in an incident yesterday evening in the park," Sue Kaffka, vice president of sales and marketing for the Capilano Suspension Bridge, wrote in an online statement.
The group was scheduled to remain in Canada until June 11.
