
‘Like my big brother’: Survivor of Banff rockfall says friend who died saved him
A survivor of a rockfall last week in Banff National Park is remembering his 33-year-old roommate, who didn’t make it out alive from under the rubble, as a kind and generous friend.
Khaled Elgamal says Hamza Benhilal of Surrey, B.C., was one of two people who died after a slab of mountain gave way Thursday, raining rock down on hikers at Bow Glacier Falls, about 200 kilometres northwest of Calgary.
“He was my friend but also like my big brother,” Elgamal, 28, said in an interview Monday from a hospital bed in Calgary. He is recovering from a fractured pelvis and shoulder, cuts and scrapes.
“I’m still shocked,” said Elgamal. “I’m still getting flashbacks of the scene.”