A child was hospitalized with serious injuries Wednesday following an incident at an Outaouais ski hill.
MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais police spokesperson Sgt. Martin Fournel
, a community newspaper covering the Gatineau Hills region, that the girl sustained the injury while trying to dismount the chairlift at the top of the hill. Police confirmed her clothing got caught in the chairlift.
Fournel said a preliminary investigation indicated the 13-year-old girl’s hoodie became tangled in the chairlift’s pull device at the top of the ski hill around 2 p.m.
“The victim could not (be freed) and she was caught at the top,” Fournel
.
He said there were concerns the girl was unable to breathe during parts of the rescue.
Low Down reporter Simon Hopkins was on the scene shortly after and “witnessed paramedics being rushed to the scene by staff on snowmobiles. Emergency workers removed an individual from the bottom hill via a rescue sled pulled by a snowmobile to a waiting ambulance in the parking lot.”
The girl was at the ski hill as part of a school outing. She was taken to Wakefield Hospital and then transported to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. The girl’s identity and the name of her school have not been released.
“Our most sincere thoughts are with the family during this difficult time,” the Centre Vorlage ski hill said in a Facebook post.
Emotional support workers were on site to help witnesses, staff and first responders.
Centre Vorlage is closed indefinitely. Police are investigating the incident. Quebec’s building authority is inspecting the lift mechanisms.
The Ottawa Citizen and Low Down contributed to this report.