A Port Alberni youth suffered serious injuries in an accident below the Orange Bridge on Wednesday, June 12.
BC Ambulance and Port Alberni Fire Department first responders were called to a location near the bridge crossing the Somass River just before 8 p.m.
“It was a younger individual who may have slipped and fell down and hit their head,” PAFD fire Chief Mike Owens said. “There were spinal precautions taken.”
A BC Emergency Health Services spokesperson confirmed a person was airlifted to a trauma centre around 10 p.m.
The youth has been identified as Domnic Guzman by a GoFundMe campaign set up by his aunt, Mandi Rai. According to Rai, the boy was climbing a tree to get a rope swing down when he fell head-first into the water. He received a broken neck and five broken vertebrae in the incident.
Guzman is currently waiting to be transferred to the Children’s Hospital in B.C. In the meantime, a fundraiser can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/domnic-guzman-is-in-the-hospital-with-broke-neck.