Police investigating after four bodies discovered near Ashcroft, B.C.

Mar 25, 2017 | 3:05 PM

ASHCROFT, B.C. — Four people were found dead in a home in a remote community in the B.C. Interior, RCMP said Saturday.

Officers found the bodies when responding to a request for a check at a home in Venables Valley near Ashcroft on Friday afternoon.

After a preliminary examination of the scene, police said there was no threat posed to the public, but details about the individuals were not immediately released.

The Major Crimes Unit and BC Coroners Service were investigating.

“The scene examination will be carried out throughout the weekend,” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk in a news release Saturday.

“The Ashcroft Victim Assistance workers are also assisting in this matter,” he said.

Ashcroft councillor Barbara Roden said the communities are tight-knit and residents of Venables regularly visit Ashcroft for work and leisure.

She said in an interview the deaths will likely have a devastating effect for residents in the area.

“I think almost everyone in town, I think when we find out who it is, is going to have had some contact with them,” she said.

Roden said her friend told her grief counsellors had arrived to help the community cope with the tragedy.

She said “a tragedy of this proportion” has not happened before in memory.