At least eight children remain in hospital following an electrical incident at Cultus Lake Waterpark on Monday.
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Darin Nielsen’s son Landon, 11, and daughter Bella, 13, were buzzing with excitement when he dropped them off at Port Coquitlam’s Minnekhada Middle School on Monday morning.
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The siblings were set for an end-of-school-year field trip to Cultus Lake Waterpark, a year-end tradition for many schools in the Lower Mainland.
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“They were oh-so excited about going to Cultus Lake because that’s what they’ve been looking forward to,” he told Postmedia.
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The brother and sister made their way out to the popular Fraser Valley attraction under the supervision of teacher chaperones, while Nielsen started his work day.
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Sunrise
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Then just before 1 p.m., Nielsen’s wife called. The school had been in touch about an incident on the field trip with Bella.
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“At first, I thought — great, gotta go pick up my daughter because she’s misbehaving or something. That’s what I thought I was going to head to,” he said.
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Then as Nielsen’s wife communicated more details through tears, he quickly realized it was much more serious and his daughter was in hospital in Abbotsford with burns.
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“Once you hear ‘electrocution at Cultus Lake Waterpark’ … you start going, oh my gosh,” he said. “So that’s all I knew when I was told to get out to Abbotsford to the hospital.”
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Nielsen’s daughter was among a dozen children aged 12 and 13 who were injured in an electrical incident Monday at the Chilliwack water park.
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Ten of the 12 were taken to Abbotsford Regional Hospital, while two — kids who became unconscious in the incident, according to Nielsen — were flown to B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Police said all 12 had sustained serious injuries but were in stable condition.
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At least one other student was transferred to B.C. Children’s on Monday evening, and a fourth followed some hours later.
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Andrew Steunenberg, the park’s chief administrative officer, said the cause is still under investigation, but that the children appear to have been hurt while in contact with a metal hand railing at the base of the Zero-60 Raceway ride.
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“That’s our observation at this time,” he said.
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Steunenberg said he did not have information on when the area was last inspected, but said the electrical work there is regulated and that the ride itself was inspected in May.
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The park had initially announced a 48-hour closure to allow Technical Safety B.C. to investigate but has since extended the closure indefinitely. At least one Metro school district notified parents on Tuesday that all scheduled field trips to the water park had been cancelled.
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“It’s open-ended until the investigation wraps and they didn’t really provide us with a timeline,” said Steunenberg.
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When Nielsen and his wife got to the hospital, Bella flashed them a big thumbs up. She had suffered a burn to her left leg near her ankle, leaving a bright red mark from where her body had been touching a metal railing that is believed to have come into contact with electricity. She also suffered a loss of sensation in her leg.
