The families and the off-road vehicle community are mourning the loss of a young Nanaimo couple who inspired off-road adventurers around the world.
Matthew Peter Yeomans and Stacey Tourout died in a crash while off-roading near Trout Lake, B.C., located in the mountains in the West Kootenay region between Kaslo and Revelstoke on Thursday, Aug. 7.
Their deaths were announced on social media by Stacey鈥檚 mother Colleen Tourout over the weekend.
Mark Jennings-Bates, manager with Kaslo Search and Rescue, said the organization was alerted about the incident at about 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 7.
鈥淲e were able to immediately dispatch a ground team and a quad team, as well, so we could get to the mountain very quickly and one of our managers actually went up there on a motorbike to get there ahead of time just to give us the lay of the land,鈥� Jennings-Bates said.
Coincidentally, another of Kaslo SAR鈥檚 managers was travelling by the area and was flagged down by members of the party travelling with Yeomans and Tourout who鈥檇 driven down from the mountain where they鈥檇 been off-roading to find help.
鈥淟uckily he was able to get the information before we were even called in,鈥� Jennings-Bates said.
The search manager said it was a difficult scene to access 鈥� the vehicle had gone over a high, steep embankment and came to rest in a boulder field below. A helicopter based in Nakusp carried a SAR team to the site where one person was found dead and the other alive. The patient was "whisked off" toward Nakusp within 15 minutes of the SAR team's arrival, but didn't survive. The couple's vehicle was completely destroyed.
Jennings-Bates said an RCMP member also attended.
鈥淭hey usually don鈥檛 go into the back country that far, but one of the local constables was on scene and helping out too,鈥� he said.
Tourout and Yeomans were known worldwide by the 4x4 community through their off-roading adventures in B.C., Mexico and South America, all documented and narrated by the couple in dozens of videos on their YouTube channel Toyota World Runners. They had also filmed and posted Yeoman鈥檚 marriage proposal to Tourout near the end of their adventures driving from Nanaimo to the southern tip of Argentina.
Social media posts about the couple鈥檚 deaths have been made from as far away as New Zealand from where they had left after spending time with the 4x4 community there just a week earlier.
鈥淲ith unimaginable heartache, the families of Matthew Peter Yeomans and Stacey Tourout would like to advise that we lost them both tragically succumbing to injuries in an off-road accident 鈥� in the beautiful mountains of British Columbia that they loved so much,鈥� Stacey鈥檚 mother Colleen Tourout posted on social media.
鈥淧lease keep us and them in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate this devastating end to an amazing love story. They are together forever as we knew they would always be.鈥�
