12 people, many students, taken to hospital from B.C. waterpark

Twelve people, mostly students, have been taken to hospital after what appears to have been an electrical incident at the Cultus Lake Waterpark in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley.

Ken Hoff with the Coquitlam School District says it’s believed 11 students from Minnekhada Middle School were being assessed after sustaining “unspecified” injuries, although RCMP told district officials they were in stable condition.

Hoff, the assistant director of communications for the district, says it happened during a field trip for Grade 6 and 7 students.

BC Emergency Health Services says it dispatched several ambulances and advanced care paramedics, among other resources, to the site, and two of the 10 people hospitalized had to be transported by air ambulance.

Hoff says the RCMP were investigating what led to the injuries.

BC Hydro, meanwhile, says an initial investigation had identified an electrical issue originating on the customer’s side, rather than from the utility’s infrastructure.

“The safety of the public is our top priority, and we’re continuing to work co-operatively with the waterpark operator and will support the ongoing investigation in any way we can,” BC Hydro says in a statement.