WEDNESDAY
May 1

Head-on
collision
claims
2 lives

BY ANHA MARIE DPANGELO
Nows Reporter

SHOCKED FRIENDS and
family are grieving the loss
of a young West Vancouver
man.

Christos Tsogas, 22. was killed
around midnight on Friday in a head-
on crash near the Caulfeild exit. A
woman was driving on the wrong side
of the road.

Marilyn Jean Kelly. 47, of West
Vancouver, died at the crash scene,

Said Tsogas’ fongtime family friend
Demetre Lazos, “This young boy
would never let people be sad.
Everybody loved Chris.”

He was described as a hardworking,
lovable young man.

Tsogas had helped in renovating his
family’s restaurant, Bay Moorings
Scafood House '
in Horseshoe
Bay. On the
night he died,
Tsogas __ took
part in a tradi-.
tional Greek
celebration with
his family: and
friends at the
restaurant — to
mark the com-
pletion of the
renovations.

When it was
Tsogas’ tum to
solo Greek
dance, he put on his iavorite Greek
song, Vradiazi, and asl:ed his mother to
dance to the song instead. A short time
later, Tsogas left to meet his girlfriend.
He died on the way there.

The Tsogas family has owned the
restaurant for 17 years

Chris Tsogas was raised in West
Vancouver und attended West
Vancouver Secondary. He had plans to
be an actor and a singer. Tsogas had
studied acting and had appeared in a
few local plays.

“He liked karate and when he feft
on Friday I saw him kick his leg up as
he usualiy did in a happy way when he
was playing karate.” said an emotional
Lazos.

CHRISTOS
TSOGAS ...
funeral today

See Waman page 4

"(QAST GUAR ‘stars
AUXILIARY

™

4
, LIFEBOAT SOCIETY

“AHR
~ AUXILIA

Weather

Thursdav: Clouds arid sun
High 14°C, low 6°C.

RY

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

NORTH SHORE Lifeboat Society members Chad Matty (left) Kelli Turner and Paul Atterton were among the emergency
searchers who were out in full force on Sunday locking for two missing divers near Whytecliff Park.

Whytecliff Park
scuba outing
takes tragic turn:

BY ANNA MARIE D’ANGELO
Nows Reporter

STEFAN SHUBIN went into
the waters off West
Vancouver’s Whytecliff Park
on Sunday afternoon to do
some recreational scuba div-
ing with three friends.

The 48-year-old Vancouver resident
was the only one of the four to make it
back to shore alive.

Dale Lione! Benjarnin, 44, of Surrey,
surfaced near Shubin after something
went tragically wrong in the murine park.

“What we do know is that the two ascended
very rapidly,” said West Vancouver Police Sgt.
Burry Nickerson.

Shubin, the most experienced of the four
divers, managed to grab Benjamin’s lifeless body
and swim to shore. People on the park's beach
came out to help. Benjamin is believed to have
died during the guick ascent Lo the surface.

The other two divers. David Nikkel. 24, of

NEWS graphic Cathiean Powell

Surrey, and Andrew Peters, 23, of Langley, did
not resurface.

Peters’ body was recovered on Monday night
with the help of a remotely operated machine
used to search deep water.

To press time Tuesday. Nikkel was still listed
as missing.

A four-hour search until darkness on Sunday
involved the North Shore Lifeboat Society.
Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue

(including hovercraft), West Vancouver
Fire Department and B.C. Ambulance
Service.

North Shore Lifeboat Society
spokesmnan Paul Atterton said that Shubin
joined the searchers for about 20 minutes
to show divers where to look for the miss-
ing men.

“He was very coherent.” said Atterton.

Shubin told members of the search
team that he «with his diving buddy
when he siw (Le two other divers in his
group descendiug quickly past him at 46
metres (Lo feet).

ohubin left his partner to try to stop
them from going any deeper. But he was
unable to help them.

Atterton said that when Shubin. sat
down on an edge of the search boat and
put his head in his hands, the Lifeboat
society volunteers knew it was time for
the surviving diver to get some medical
treatment,

Shubin was taken to Vancouver
Hospital where he received hyperbaric chamber
treatment for the bends. He was released from
hospital a short time later,

The missing divers were last seen near what
divers call “the wall.” an area that drops quickly
to about 9f te 122 metres (300 to 400 feet).

Aterton said the divers were fast seen about
46 mictres (50 yards) west of a green tnarker in

See Diving page 4