Volkswagen Beetle stunt was ‘illegal and potentially dangerous,’ ‘not a prank’: UBC

The shell of a Volkswagen Beetle has now been removed from a rock face above Highway 99 in Squamish.

A helicopter was used on Thursday morning to lower the car after contractors climbed the rock on Thursday to place the car into a large net.

The prank last week, by UBC engineering students, drew a lot of criticism and B.C. Parks said it took extensive administrative work to plan the car’s removal.

They received many bids from contractors to move it, but officials said they were able to choose one that donated their services to get the job done.

I think it went pretty smoothly. They were very qualified for the job,” Megan Cobitzsch with B.C. Parks said.

“Although they don’t take cars off cliff sides too often, I think they did it very safely and they added wheels to the bottom of it so they didn’t scrape the rock. Yeah, it took them all day.”

The provincial government has threatened to take legal action. The local First Nation condemned the prank and the RCMP said it has opened an investigation.

Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma, as a UBC engineering alumna, said she was unavailable for an interview on Thursday.

UBC Prof. James Olson, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science, was also unavailable for an interview on Thursday, but did send a statement saying that the “faculty and the Engineering Undergraduate Society are jointly addressing this incident directly with students.

“We are characterizing this as an illegal and potentially dangerous act — not a prank — and one that is incompatible with the ethics that engineering students commit to.

“The Faculty and EUS have been closely working together to prevent similar incidents, including a clear accountability plan and outreach to the Squamish Nation, BC Parks and the local climbing community. Students with knowledge of the incident are being directed to report it to the RCMP (File: SQ26 2369).”

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