12 youths taken to hospital from B.C.'s Cultus Lake Waterpark after electrical incident

12 youths taken to hospital from B.C.'s Cultus Lake Waterpark after electrical incident

2 people airlifted to hospital, WorkSafeBC investigating as school district confirms students injured

Police say 12 youths were taken to hospital after suffering injuries at the Cultus Lake Waterpark in Chilliwack, B.C., on Monday.

Chilliwack RCMP initially said emergency crews were called to the park around 11:20 a.m. PT, and that 10 youths and two adults were taken to hospital.

All of the patients were "reported to be stable with serious injuries," RCMP Cpl. Carmen Kiener told CBC News at the time.

In a later update, Kiener confirmed that no adults were injured and that 12 youths sustained injuries in the incident.

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Kiener said in an update just before 6:20 p.m. PT that there is no ongoing risk to the public as a result of the "isolated incident."

"At this time, there is no indication that the event was caused by a person, and investigators do not believe it to be the result of deliberate human action," an RCMP statement read.

Electrical mishap at B.C. waterpark sends 12 youths to hospital

Andrew Steunenberg, the chief administrative officer at Cultus Lake Waterpark, said the "serious incident" occurred in the queuing area for the Zero to 60 Raceway ride at the park.

He said it was electrical in nature and appeared to involve people touching the railing while they were in the queue.

"When they made contact ... that's where the incident occurred, for a brief time," he told reporters in a news conference late Monday afternoon.

"That's the space of time that there seemed to be an anomaly, and that's what they're investigating right now."

Ken Hoff with the Coquitlam School District told The Canadian Press that 11 students from Minnekhada Middle School were believed to have sustained "unspecified" injuries.

CBC News has reached out to the district to find out how many students were hospitalized.

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

The park is set to be closed for the next 48 hours as the park co-operates with the investigation, according to Steunenberg.

He added that the park wouldn't reopen until technical safety authorities had determined it was safe to do so.

"We've never had an incident ever occur like this before, it's very unexpected," he said. "And it doesn't align with anything in our safety record up to this point in time."

B.C. Emergency Health Services said it deployed multiple resources, including ambulances with primary care paramedics, one ambulance with advanced care paramedics and two air ambulances with critical care paramedics.

Two of the patients were airlifted to hospital, it said, while the other 10 were transported by ground ambulance.

Police have yet to specify how the injuries occurred.

RCMP said officers remained on scene Monday afternoon and WorkSafeBC is taking conduct of the investigation, but the park had not been shut down.

B.C.'s workplace regulator told CBC News in a statement that it was notified of an incident at the water park around 11:20 a.m. PT.

"Preliminary reports suggest that no workers were injured, however, a WorkSafeBC [officer] is attending the scene. We do not have any further information currently," a spokesperson said.

A B.C. Hydro spokesperson, in a statement, referred to an "incident at Cultus Lake Waterpark," but did not specify the exact nature of it.

They said an initial investigation had determined there was an "electrical issue" that originated on the customer's side of the electrical service, and not with B.C. Hydro equipment.

"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," the spokesperson wrote.

Matthew Deery, a 14-year-old who is going on a field trip to the water park next Monday, said the reports of the students taken to hospital were "scary to hear."

"I don't really want to go on Monday unless, like, they figure out what happened and, like, fix the problem," he said.

With files from Caroline Barghout, Bismah Mughal and The Canadian Press