CALGARY -- Three teenage boys have been sent to hospital in Calgary after they were pinned underneath a tree that had toppled over during a severe thunderstorm Friday afternoon.
EMS tells CTV News they were called to a campground near Bottrel, Alta. at about 4:45 p.m. Friday.
Four ambulances were dispatched to the scene and they found three teenage boys who had been injured when a tree fell onto the tent they were staying in.
Cochrane RCMP responded to the scene at about 4:50 p.m. and said it looked like 'chaos'.
The group of campers consisted of four people, but one of them was outside the tent when the tree fell.
All of the victims were taken to hospitals in Calgary by ground ambulance. Two boys were taken to Alberta Children's Hospital while the third victim was hurt more severely, says Adam Loria with Calgary EMS.
"He sustained multiple serious injuries but was transported to Foothills Medical Centre in non-life threatening condition."
Many say the boys all narrowly escaped further injury, possibly even death, because of a cooler that was left outside the tent. The plastic trunk ended up catching the weight of the tree and holding it about a foot or so off the ground.
"If that hadn't of been there, I think those boys wouldn't have made it," said Don Kilpatrick, a resident who came to help out.
Kilpatrick says this year has been the worst weather they've had in the area for a long time.
"The wind was sideways. We're just a half a mile west of here and we're out of the trees, for all intents and purposes. There was debris on our deck. They were covered in branches, grass and leaves. The trees were sideways – it was pretty crazy."
The manager of the campground, Tim Needham, says the storm started brewing in the afternoon and it quickly got out of control. He isn't even sure what exactly happened in the storm because it just happened so quickly.
"It was just a wall of white that showed up. It didn't look like a tornado or anything," he said. "First we couldn't see our neighbour's house, then we couldn't see the store, then we couldn't see the trees, then we couldn't see our hand in front of our face."
A few minutes later, Needham said they heard crashing and banging and quickly realized trees were coming down in the strong winds, falling down among all the tents set up by campers.
"We ran over the bridge and we could hear screaming from the three boys who were trapped underneath the tents."
Needham said one of the boys was quickly helped out of the wreckage, but another was inside and wasn't breathing.
"He was lying face down. His face was bright blue and red and he wasn't breathing," he said. "We broke the branch off him and he took a big breath and was moaning as he was breathing."
EMS took the boy to hospital, but Needham says he had sustained extensive injuries in the incident.
"He's got a broken back, he's got eight broken ribs I think, he's got concussion, he's got possible skull fracture, a broken arm. Basically, his whole left side was severely damaged. He's really lucky to be alive."
As for damage to the campground itself, Needham says the storm broke several 75-foot trees and uprooted several more throughout the property.
He adds a county official visited the site earlier on Saturday and figured the storm was likely a tornado that skimmed the surface of the ground.
"It didn't touch down because it went over a valley. It went down to about 20 feet of the grounds, ripped up the trees and then bounced and skidded all the way across this field. Up on top of the hill it touched down in a farmer's field and made a big circular pattern up there. This is why we're pretty sure it was a tornado."
STORM WARNING CALLED FRIDAY
Environment Canada had called a number of severe thunderstorm warnings throughout the southern Alberta region Friday. A tornado warning was also called near Hanna, Alta.
RCMP says several trees had been uprooted throughout the campground in the wake of the storm and witnesses told them a small tornado had touched down in the area.
There has been no confirmation of a tornado in the Bottrel area so far.
There are no reports of serious damage or injury in any other community at this time.
Bottrel is located approximately 45 minutes northwest of Calgary.
