A man saved his friend after a dangerous rockslide at Canada's Banff National Park on June 19. But unfortunately, he couldn't save himself in the process.
Khaled El Gamal and Hamza Benhilal had been hiking near Bow Glacier Falls at the park when a rockslide happened. Part of the cliff gave way, crushing Benhilal to death. Before he died, Benhilal managed to warn his friend about the rockslide. It likely saved his life.
"I froze like a deer in headlights," El Gamal told the Canadian Press. "He saved me by screaming."
"He did scream out loud, telling me to run, run, run. And that's what helped me get back on to my senses and start running, because I was in shock. It seemed like a movie scene, just seeing rocks coming from the side," El Gamal told CTV News.
He credits his friend with saving his life.
Rockslide Kills Man
"It wasn't for him, I would have just stood my ground there in shock as I froze. I don't know, my mind just disengaged at that moment," he said. "And he screamed and told me to run, run, run. And then, I survived."
During the rockslide, he said that he lost sight of his friend. He was pummeled with rocks after falling.
"The rocks obviously were so fast, they were falling," he told CTV. "So, they hit my legs and I fell to the ground. And then all I remember is I hid my head, I covered my head with my arms, just kept my back towards the rocks and just kept suffering the rock falls. Rock after rock was hitting my back."
"I kept telling them, my friend, where's my friend? And nobody was able to locate him. Nobody was able to see him. We did not know what happened until we were told he was found under the rubble there," he told CTV News.
"He was a very, very generous and a very nice person. The person that whenever you are even in trouble, you would go on to talk to him because he had this wisdom," he told CTV. "I would reach out to him whenever I was in need of advice."
