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Seven-year-old Erin Moore was killed in a rockslide while hiking Unnecessary Mountain on the Sea to Sky Highway with her family.

The village of Lions Bay, north of Vancouver, is in mourning this Christmas after a seven-year-old girl hiking with her family was killed in a rockslide.

"The timing is never good for these things, but this is particularly bad," Karl Buhr, mayor of the community of 1,400, said in an interview on Wednesday as he described how Lions Bay residents are struggling to come to terms with the child's death earlier this week.

"The community is reacting as only a small community can because this is one of our own," he said.

Mr. Buhr said Erin Moore and her family were especially well known in Lions Bay, a village on the Sea-to-Sky Highway.

Flags are at half mast and a tribute board has been posted at the village hall so residents can add remembrances. Plans call for all the notices to be delivered to Erin's family in a week.

On Dec. 22, Erin was hiking with friends and family on Unnecessary Mountain on the Sea to Sky Highway. While taking a break beside a creek, a rockslide trapped Erin, who could not be resuscitated, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.

Mr. Buhr said the only event he could recall along the lines of this week's tragedy was a debris slide in the mid-1980s along another creek that killed two young boys sleeping in a cabin.

Of this week's tragedy, he said, "This was a case where nobody was doing anything wrong. There's not even a lesson to be learned here. This is a well-established, fairly flat trail."

He said volunteers maintain the trails.

Mr. Buhr said he will likely look into having the province conduct some kind of geotechnical survey of the area where the fatal slide occurred this week.

Mr. Buhr, who knows Erin and her family, said the young child was a "force of nature" who was a keen hiker and had done the trail many previous times.

"She was indefatigable," he said, recalling how she did challenging hikes in Hello Kitty shoes and a skirt.

Erin's parents, in a statement obtained and published by the CBC, remembered a "deeply gentle and caring yet sparky" child.

"Her eclectic dress sense surprised us every morning; she could turn a tea towel into a tiara! We have been blessed with almost 8 rich, action-packed years with Erin that are brimming with beautiful memories."

Elizabeth and Michael Moore described their daughter's death as the result of a "tragic freak accident while doing what our family loves doing - walking in mountains."

Martin Colwell of Lions Bay Search and Rescue said shortly after the incident that heavy rain may be responsible for the slide.

Barb McLintock, speaking for the coroners service, has said the death remains under investigation.

With a report from The Canadian Press

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