Rescuers Use Chainsaws, Canoe to Get to Injured Boy

Canadian rescuers faced tough conditions over the weekend as they worked to reach a 13-year-old boy seriously injured by a falling tree while camping with his mother in Ontario's Algonquin Park. They needed chainsaws and a canoe to reach the boy in a remote part of the park. According to the Ontario Provincial Police, the incident happened late Saturday night during a thunderstorm, when the tree collapsed onto their tent at North Depot Lake. The mother managed to send out a distress signal, alerting authorities to their remote location—more than 15 miles from the nearest park entrance, the CBC reports.

Due to the poor weather, rescue teams couldn't access the site by air. "First responders had to make a harrowing trek through roads and trails filled with downed trees and other debris and through dense brush," the OPP said in a post on X. "They used hand saws to clear the way until chainsaws could arrive." The chainsaws brought in by the Deep River Fire Department allowed rescuers to get ATVs closer to the scene. The final leg of the journey required paddling a canoe about 300 yards to reach the injured boy, where he was administered first aid.

By Sunday morning, conditions improved enough for a Ministry of Natural Resources float plane to land on the lake and bring the boy and his mother to a hospital. The rescue site in the 3,000-square-mile park was around 130 miles from Ottawa. Chief Michael Nolan with the County of Renfrew Paramedic Service praised the coordination among agencies. "Without a cooperative approach and a determination to be able to get access to these individuals, be able to initiate care by the paramedics, and then be able to use our air assets both federally and provincially really is what saved this individual's life," he told CTV News. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)