An 11-year-old boy is dead following an ATV rollover on Cortes Island on Thursday.
A family member and a neighbour found his body pinned underneath the off-road vehicle, said Cpl. Sean Bulford of the Quadra Island RCMP detachment, which is responsible for Cortes Island.
“By the time he was found – they went looking for him, and he was deceased,” said Bulford.
He said the boy appears to have rounded a corner on the ATV and rolled over a slight embankment. The boy, whose name hasn’t been released, was alone at the time.
The tragic death took place on private land in a remote area near Squirrel Cove, Bulford said.
Police from the West Coast Marine Services who were patrolling Cortes Island at the time were the first to arrive on the scene, he said.
Mounties from Quadra Island also attended, along with officials from the BC Coroners Service and Victim Services, Emergency Health Services and Cortes Island Fire Rescue.
The BC Coroner is in the “very early stages of its fact-finding investigation” involving the death of a young male on Cortes Island, said spokesperson Andy Watson.
BC Emergency Health Services responded to the incident at 5:14 p.m. on Thursday, said spokesperson Shannon Miller.
A community paramedic on Cortes Island and local paramedic unit were dispatched and arrived on the scene in 15 minutes, she said.
An air ambulance helicopter was also immediately auto-launched to Cortes Island from Vancouver, she said, referring to a rapid response procedure used in acute care emergencies. Miller said the patient wasn’t transported and that no further information could be released by BCEHS.
Cortes Island Fire Rescue confirmed that an accident took place involving a young male, but declined to provide further details.
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david.koch@campbellrivermirror.com
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