BANFF – The Bow Valley community and beyond has raised thousands of dollars to help fly the body of a man found at the base of Banff’s Tunnel Mountain home to his grieving family in the Philippines.
The $10,000 goal in the GoFundMe campaign generated $13,340 for funeral expenses and to fly Mike Ilagan’s body back to his homeland.
Known by friends as Mik Mik, the 29-year-old Filipino man who had been living in Banff for about three years had been reported missing and his body was found at the bottom of Tunnel Mountain on May 5.
Jeff Guevarra, who spearheaded the fundraiser, thanked everyone for the generous donations on behalf of Ilagan’s family.
“Thanks to the community coming together and raising funds for the family, Mik Mik is able to go home and rest with his family in his home country,” said Guevarra in a social media post.
“The family will be forever grateful for the generosity of this community.”
According to Guevarra, Ilagan came to Banff in 2021 after studying in Toronto with hopes of permanent residency.
“You may have known him from work, as he has worked in several businesses in town,” he wrote on GoFundMe.
“He was surrounded with relatives, new friends that eventually became his family too.
“He was full of dreams … he was a very loving son, a good brother, a good friend, a happy-go-lucky genuine person.”
Banff RCMP have said Ilagan’s death is not suspicious.
They say he was reported missing to Banff RCMP by a supervisor at Sunshine Village staff accommodation on April 27. He was last seen boarding a bus from Sunshine to Banff on April 19.
Two climbers were preparing to climb a route on Tunnel Mountain on the morning of May 5 when they came across the body. Parks Canada’s visitor safety team retrieved his body via helicopter.
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