Dubai businessman killed in avalanche

A 45-year-old Dubai businessman died last Friday after being completely buried by an avalanche while heli-skiing near a mountain resort in British Columbia, Canada, according to local media news reports there.

Described by his family as an avid skier and a family man who lived life to the fullest, Ronald Gregory Sheardown was part of a group of 11 skiers and one instructor who were visiting the Selkirk Mountain range near Revelstoke when an avalanche hit the group, according to Canada’s The Star newspaper.

Police reports say Shearman was located with a transceiver but was unresponsive when crews attempted to revive him. Three others were partially buried in the avalanche, but were rescued.

Sheardown leaves behind his wife of 20 years and their three sons, 10, 12 and 15 years old.

He relocated from Cairo to Dubai earlier last year after the Arab Spring began in Egypt. According to his sister, Sheardown had recently been promoted to head Middle East operations for Lafarge, a construction material company headquartered in Paris.

She told the Canadian daily that his widow and children will be packing up their lives in Dubai in the next couple of days to relocate to their US home.

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