A Tacoma Sea Scout died Tuesday in a fall near Chatterbox Falls at Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia.

Liam Von Berks, 17, was one of 18 Sea Scouts traveling on the S.S.S. Charles N. Curtis, a former Coast Guard cutter. They had anchored at Princess Louisa Marine Provincial Park on Jervis Strait north of Vancouver and south of Desolation Sound on the British Columbia mainland. Accessible only by air and water, the park includes Chatterbox Falls.

"The boys were going up the falls on a hike," said. Sgt. Danny Willis of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "For some reason, Liam appeared to get too close to the edge and fell over. There is no indication of any horsing around or foul play. He just got off the trail too close to the edge, slipped, and it's a long way down. It was an unfortunate accident, very simple in detail. Unfortunately, Liam fell victim to the dangers of the wild."
Willis estimated Von Berks fell 200 to 300 feet.

He said the call for help came at 5 p.m., and the North Vancouver search and rescue team arrived at the remote park 90 minutes to two hours later. During that time, he said, Von Berks' fellow Sea Scouts performed CPR, trying to save their friend.

"From everything I've heard, they were trying in vain," Willis said. "But what else do you do when there's no one else around?"

The Sea Scouts were flown to Vancouver the next day and driven to Tacoma, where grief counselors were waiting to help them, said Doug Dillow, Scout executive of the Pacific Harbors Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Scouting officials also went to Vancouver to help Van Berks' parents, Maureen Derig and James Von Berks, both of Tacoma.

A statement from the council read: "While such accidents are rare in the Boy Scouts of America, we pledge to do whatever we can to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again in Pacific Harbors Council or the BSA."

Ina Derig, Von Berks' grandmother, said he attended Lincoln High School and was close to becoming an Eagle Scout.

"He does love scouting," she said. "He's done that for a long time. This Boy Scouting was his biggest thing."