Boy caught in culvert critical

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This article was published 11/04/2009 (6236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MEMBERS of the Westroc Hutterite Colony have been praying for the survival of a boy left in critical condition after he fell into fast-moving water and was dragged into a culvert.

Samuel Gross was still in critical condition in hospital Saturday night, but his condition had not worsened, said colony member Ben Gross.

Members of the colony in the RM of Westbourne said the eight-year-old boy was playing with friends near a culvert late Thursday afternoon when he apparently slipped on a snowbank and fell into the water.

The boy’s young friends tried to pull Samuel to safety but couldn’t overcome the current, which sucked him into the culvert.

"The guys tried to help him out, the small boys, but they couldn’t do it," said 15-year-old Julie Gross, who later helped rescue the boy.

Julie said she was at home when her younger brother, who had been playing with Samuel, came running to the house in tears. Julie and her sister raced to the culvert and managed to pull the little boy out of the water. Some members of the colony performed CPR, she said, but couldn’t get a response.

RCMP arrived on the scene at around 5 p.m., and the boy was flown by rescue helicopter to the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg

The Westroc Colony is located 35 kilometres northwest of Portage la Prairie.

"We’re all just sitting on the edge of our seats right now," said Julie, who described Samuel as a typical active boy. He has four younger siblings and is especially close to his brother, she said.

Colony member Ben Gross said Samuel’s parents were with him in Winnipeg on Friday, while extended family on the colony hoped and prayed for his recovery.

"We always try to keep an eye on them," said Gross, who couldn’t recall an accident like this one during his 70 years on the colony. "You just have to turn your back at times."

Samuel was transported from the colony to Winnipeg by the STARS air ambulance, an Alberta-based helicopter staffed with medical personnel.

The Manitoba government has contracted the Alberta company to provide air rescue services until there is no longer a theat of flooding.

Const. Marc Allard of the Amaranth RCMP said Friday that after he was dispatched to the call at Westroc, he was advised a helicopter was just 32 minutes out.

"We secured a landing area… it was definitely making good use of a service in the area," he said.

The STARS ambulance, a Eurocopter BK-117, has two pilots and a medical crew aboard. It is temporarily stationed at James Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg during the current risk of flooding here.

RCMP are warning Manitobans to stay away from ice-covered lakes, ponds, rivers, flooded areas or any area where water is being diverted with culverts and drainage ditches.

That danger was highlighted in 1997 when two young boys died in flood-swollen culverts a day apart during the Flood of the Century.

Four-year-old Kevin Michael Maendel drowned April 21, 1997, on New Rosedale Hutterite Colony near Portage la Prairie.

The next day, 14-year-old Adam Young drowned on Leila Avenue in northwest Winnipeg.

 

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca