A grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada, injuring 11 people, two of them critically.
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The attack happened on Thursday afternoon in Bella Coola, 700km (435 miles) northwest of Vancouver. The Nuxalk Nation said the “aggressive bear” remained on the loose on Thursday evening and police and conservation officers were on the scene.
“Officers are armed. Remain indoors and off the highway,” the First Nation said in a social media post.
Two people were critically injured and two had serious injuries, Emergency Health Services spokesman Brian Twaites said. The others were treated at the scene.
Parent Veronica Schooner said a lot of people tried to halt the attack but one male teacher “got the whole brunt of it” and was among the people taken by helicopter from the scene.
Schooner’s 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the class of fourth- and fifth-graders that was attacked and was so close to the animal “he even felt its fur,” she said.