17 children, adult rushed to hospital after elevated platform collapses on school field trip By: Chris Kitching and Maggie Macintosh Posted: 12:17 PM CDT Wednesday, May. 31, 2023 Last Modified: 6:40 AM CDT Thursday, Jun. 1, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (330 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Students who were on a field trip to Fort Gibraltar heard a cracking noise moments before a platform collapsed and sent about 30 people, mostly children, falling four to six metres Wednesday morning.

Officials said 17 children and one adult from St. John’s-Ravenscourt School suffered varying degrees of injury and were taken to the Health Sciences Centre, which declared a code orange — a disaster occurring outside the hospital.

“It could have been so, so much worse. We were prepared for the worst,” Dr. Karen Gripp, medical director of Children’s Hospital’s emergency department, told a news conference outside the hospital.

She said she had never seen an incident of this magnitude in terms of patient numbers.

Three children were in unstable condition, while the rest of the patients were stable when they were taken from the scene in St. Boniface, said Jay Shaw, an assistant chief with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

Gripp said a boy, who required a surgical procedure for one of his fractured bones, was expected to remain in hospital overnight.

He will be released in the near future, she said.

The remaining patients were expected to be sent home Wednesday, with some undergoing X-rays or CT scans, Gripp said.

The children, aged 10 and 11, mostly suffered orthopedic injuries, including broken bones, with none of them severe or life-threatening.

The cause of the collapse, which happened at about 10 a.m., is under investigation.

Festival du Voyageur, which owns and operates Fort Gibraltar, said the site will be closed for an undetermined period of time.

Student Tameem Aljafari, 10, was among those who fell while a group walked along the wooden platform at the national historic site in Whittier Park.

About 30 people, mostly children, were on the structure when it collapsed, Aljafari said.

“We were going and then the bridge starts cracking and then it falls down,” he told reporters outside Children’s Hospital. “There was a teacher and two kids that fell down from the bridge. I think everybody just piled on them and they fell straight down.”

Photos taken by a Free Press photographer show at least two collapsed sections of platform, surrounded by yellow caution tape, on the north side of the fort.

Aljafari escaped with minor injuries, including scratches. He said there was confusion when everyone fell.

“I couldn’t breathe because my back was hurting. When I inhaled, it hurt a lot,” he said.

“I couldn’t breathe because my back was hurting. When I inhaled, it hurt a lot.”–Tameem Aljafari, student

Gripp said some children fell “directly,” while others slid down the structure, based on the injury patterns observed by hospital staff.

Three Grade 5 classes from SJR went on the end-of-year trip.

The private, independent co-ed school is on South Drive in the Wildwood Park neighbourhood.

Parents rushed to Children’s Hospital after receiving phone calls or learning about the incident from other sources.

Archana and Niranjan Paul were still unsure where their son was at 1 p.m., about three hours after the initial 911 call was made and two hours after SJR sent families a vague email about the situation.

“I couldn’t even express (my feelings). I just totally broke down, like how did this happen? I was just worried about all the kids. It’s just so heartbreaking,” said Archana, holding back tears as she recalled the moment she read about the situation in a group chat of SJR mothers.

The duo went to the hospital to find out if their elementary schooler was among the injured because school staff did not answer the phone when they tried contacting administrators to pinpoint the boy’s location and status.

One mother received a phone call informing her that her 10-year-old daughter was among those who were wounded when the wooden bridge collapsed under the weight of children and a teacher.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s so scary,” Meng Meng said outside the hospital.

Meng said her daughter, who was excited to visit the fort, was being checked for injuries, including a sore hip.

“Thank God, she’s OK,” she added.

”It’s unbelievable. It’s so scary.”–Meng Meng

SJR head of school Jim Keefe said parents or families of the 17 students who went to hospital were notified after the incident.

The rest of the students and adults returned to the school, where counsellors were on hand.

“We are doing everything we can to support our Grade 5 students and teachers and their families, and ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time,” said Keefe.

Incident commander Michelle Bessas, a paramedic operations platoon chief with WFPS, said 28 patients were assessed at the scene; staff worked quickly to determine who needed to be taken to hospital first.

Seventeen children were taken to the emergency department at Children’s. The adult was taken to HSC’s emergency room.

Six ambulances transported patients who had more serious injuries, said Bessas.

The rest were transported in a major incident response vehicle, a bus-sized mobile trauma treatment facility.

Every patient was transported from the scene within an hour, Bessas said. Some were on backboards.

Emergency workers were well-prepared, she said, given their regular training for mass-casualty incidents, which don’t happen that often.

The emergency department at the Children’s Hospital had empty rooms and staff available because it wasn’t busy at the time, Gripp said.

Staff dealt with the most serious injuries first.

The hospital initially prepared for as many as 30 injured people, with surgeons and trauma staff among those on standby, when the code orange was declared.

“It’s pretty much all hands on deck,” said Gripp.

Staff was also prepared to resuscitate patients, but didn’t have to, she said.

Some same-day surgeries were delayed to ensure staff was available.

Gripp said she doesn’t believe the mass casualty incident had a huge effect on operations, but there was a period of time when things were on hold until staff knew the scope of the incident, she told reporters.

Shannon Muise, a mother who took her daughter to Children’s for treatment for flu-like symptoms, said it was a chaotic scene, with injured children waiting to be seen.

“It was packed in there,” she said.

Gripp said child life therapists and social workers are assisting the kids and their families.

Staff from the province’s Workplace Safety and Health department were conducting an investigation at the fort to determine the cause of the collapse. The city is also investigating the collapse.

Rose Marie Fiola, who lives near the fort with her husband Mike Boyd, said the collapse was tragic.

“The question is then, how secure is the structure? It’s used during festival, it’s used during (other events),” she said.

In a statement, Festival du Voyageur said it is fully co-operating with authorities.

“Our thoughts are with all those who are affected by this difficult, sad and extremely unfortunate situation,” the statement read. “We would like to thank first responders and personnel that responded quickly to the incident to prioritize the well-being of all those involved.

“This is a difficult time for many, and we want to ensure that respect and support for those involved is of the utmost importance.”

The organization would not comment on the cause nor the frequency of inspections or maintenance of the structure.

Prior to question period at the legislature Wednesday afternoon, Liberal leader and St. Boniface MLA Dougald Lamont, Premier Heather Stefanson, an SJR graduate, and NDP Leader Wab Kinew expressed support and concern for the children, as well as gratitude for emergency responders.

Mayor Scott Gillingham tweeted a similar message.

Thousands of people visit the fort during Festival du Voyageur every February. It is also used for public and school tours, weddings and other events.

The original site was a trading post built by the North West Company in 1809, but later captured and destroyed by the Selkirk Colony in 1816.

North West Company rebuilt the fort a year later, and it continued operating under Hudson’s Bay Company after a merger in 1821.

Fort Gibraltar’s name was changed to Fort Garry the following year, and 13 years later it was abandoned aside from warehouse use.

The fort was destroyed by the Red River flood in 1852. It was eventually rebuilt by Festival du Voyageur in 1978.

— With files from Erik Pindera

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca