Toddler in rafting accident on B.C. river expected to fully recover

The Hoodoos at Dutch Creek, near Canal Flats, BC. Photo by LaurieKingdon / Wikimedia Commons.

CALGARY—A one-year-old girl is expected to fully recover after spending an hour in the water during a rafting accident near Fairmont, B.C.

The toddler was flown to the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary on Wednesday.

She had been in an inflatable dingy with her 23-year-old mother and the woman’s other child, a three-month old baby boy, floating down the Dutch Creek River.

The girl fell out after the dingy hit some debris.

The mother managed to hold onto the baby boy, but the toddler was carried away by the current.

RCMP commandeered a local helicopter to assist in the search for the baby, but it was volunteers on the ground who spotted the little girl on a sandbar with her head out of the water.

Fire department officials rescued the child, who was conscious and whimpering.
She was first taken to hospital in Invermere, B.

C., and then flown by air ambulance to Calgary, where she was initially listed as being in critical condition.

RCMP say their investigation is ongoing and no decision on charges has yet been made.