Four in hospital after bear attacks Canada school children

A grizzly bear attacked a school group in Bella Coola, British Columbia, injuring four people. Photo / Getty Images

Four people are in hospital, including two with critical injuries, after a grizzly bear attacked a school group in a remote part of western Canada.

The attack happened Thursday afternoon (local time) on a trail in the Bella Coola area of British Columbia, the Provincial Health Services Authority told AFP.

“Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to four patients and transported them to hospital,” the authority said, noting that two of the patients had critical injuries and two others were in “serious condition”.

Seven other people received care at the scene but did not require hospitalisation, the provincial authorities added.

The authorities declined to provide the ages of those in hospital, citing family requests for privacy.

The Nuxalk First Nation said the attack affected their community, posting Thursday on Facebook that there was an “aggressive bear in the area”.

The Nuxalk Nation’s school, Acwsalcta, said on Facebook that it was closed Friday “due to the bear incident”.

The school praised its staff’s “courage” during “an incredibly challenging moment,” and said it will share more information in the near future.

Veronica Schooner told the Canadian Press that her son was in the group that was attacked but was not injured.

“He said that bear ran so close to him, but it was going after somebody else,” she told CP.

Late Thursday, the Nuxalk Nation reported that the bear remained at large and urged residents to stay indoors.

The indigenous nation’s administrative office declined to confirm on Friday whether a stay-indoors order remained active.

The BC Conservation Officer Service, a wildlife body that has taken over the investigation, could not immediately be reached for comment on whether the bear had been found.

- Agence France-Presse