A seven-year-old boy is recovering in hospital after he received serious injuries Sunday afternoon after falling off a rocky cliff in West Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park.
The accident happened shortly after 1 p.m. when the child fell about 15 metres from a cliff near the end of the West Beach Trail, landing on the rocks below.
“I think it was pretty much a straight drop,” said Martin Leduc, assistant chief of operations with West Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.
Emergency responders were called to the scene at about 1:15 p.m. and used ropes to rappel down to reach the child.
The boy was in serious condition, with head and arm injuries, but was conscious when firefighters and paramedics reached him.
Leduc said emergency crews put the boy on a spine board and called the Coast Guard to evacuate him with a rigid-hulled inflatable to the Kitsilano Coast Guard base. He was then rushed to Children’s Hospital.
Leduc said it’s unclear how the accident happened.
He added Lighthouse Park does present rugged terrain, particularly any time visitors venture off marked trails.
A total of 16 firefighters, four advance life support paramedics from B.C. Ambulance and a park ranger were involved in rescue efforts.
Leduc said as of Monday evening the boy had been moved to a recovery ward and his condition was improving.
