SOOKE, B.C. — One teenager has died and another is in critical but stable condition after a tree fell on at least one of them at a camp near the Vancouver Island community of Sooke, B.C.
Officials with the Otter Point Volunteer Fire Department say they were called to Camp Barnard after receiving a report that a boy was trapped under a tree.
One person was seen being transported by ambulance while rescuers attempted CPR on another person on a nearby river bank.
Crews battling a nearby brush fire say winds hit 80 km/h around Sooke.
An ambulance helicopter was sent to the area near a hatchery and the B.C. Coroners Service has been contacted. A spokesman for the agency confirms an investigation into the death is underway, but few other details are available.
The Greater Victoria School District says counsellors will be at Lansdowne Middle School to help students and staff deal with the teenager’s death.
Supt. Shelley Green posted a letter on the district’s website Wednesday, advising that the district has deployed its critical incident response team to the school after a student died during a field trip.
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Green’s letter says the death of the unnamed youth “may raise certain emotions, concerns and questions for our entire school district, especially our students.
“At Lansdowne Middle School, we have counsellors available for any students and staff who may need and want help or any type of assistance surrounding this loss,” Green writes.
More than 600 students in Grades 6 to 8 attend the school.
The Camp Barnard website says the roughly one-square-kilometre camp at Otter Point, just west of Sooke, offers wilderness camping and other programs for youths and adults.