The bodies of four members of a family who went missing after their house was swallowed by a gaping sink hole north-east of Montreal have been found, authorities said today.
The Prefontaine family was in their basement cheering on ice hockey team the Montreal Canadiens in their Stanley Cup play-off game against the Pittsburgh Penguins when the massive landslide struck on Monday night in the village of Saint-Jude.
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The St. Lawrence and Ottawa valleys are laden with clay deposited in low coastal areas during the last Ice Age.
The clay is very sensitive and, if disturbed, it can lose its physical strength and liquefy, causing its slope to collapse and the land to slide.
Natural Resources Canada said clay earth-flows have caused 100 deaths in modern times, including the destruction of two Quebec towns - Notre-Dame-de-la-Salette in 1908 and St-Jean-Vianney in 1971.
Pictures at the link.
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