Coroner to probe death of child
Counsellors to help classmates of girl found unresponsive in snow
While some local parents have taken to social media to urge caution about children tunnelling in snow, officials have confirmed only that a 12-year-old girl died after being found unresponsive beneath snow in the backyard of her family’s Regina home.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the Office of the Chief Coroner, with the assistance of Regina police, is investigating the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death, which is not considered suspicious. A coroner’s investigation can take about six months.
Police, firefighters and paramedics responded to an emergency call at a home on the 2000 block of Dunnison Crescent around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A police spokesperson said officers were called for a report of a child believed to be deceased.
At least four police vehicles, two ambulances, a fire truck and one other EMS vehicle were seen scattered in front of a residence as paramedics appeared to be working at resuscitating a patient.
According to police, the girl was transported to hospital, where she was subsequently pronounced dead later Tuesday evening.
A neighbour, who was in his backyard at the time, said Tuesday night that he saw emergency workers digging through snow in the backyard of the residence before the stretcher came out.
A second ambulance, which was not carrying the person, had great difficulty leaving the scene over the poorly plowed residential road. Several neighbours pitched in to push the ambulance out after it became stuck in the snow.
Cara Zukewich is child injury prevention program co-ordinator with the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute. “On behalf of everybody at the Prevention Institute, we’re very sorry to hear about this tragic accident,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of that child.
“We need to remember that these types of deaths are very rare.”
Based in Saskatoon, the institute’s goal is healthy children.
Playing in the snow can be fun and is a wonderful way for children to develop motor and social skills, Zukewich said.
But she added: “There are certain circumstances in which tragedies like this occur. We do not know under what conditions this death occurred, so we can’t really say what could have prevented this death.”
A letter sent Wednesday by Daniel Lizee, principal of Ecole St. Elizabeth Catholic School, informed parents of Tuesday night’s death of a Grade 7 student.
“Teachers, counsellors, and the pastoral team from Resurrection Parish are available to meet with students today,” the letter read. “The staff is very sensitive to your child’s needs and possible reaction to the news, particularly if your child was close to the deceased.”
Twylla West is communications co-ordinator of the Regina Catholic School Division. “Anytime something like this happens, we bring in extra school counsellors to be available to students and in our case we make sure that we’re involving the parish priest,” West said.
“The other thing we do in our schools in this situation is that we pray.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Regina Police Service issued a notice indicating its victim services unit was working with the grieving family, who requested privacy at this time.