{"id":219349,"date":"2019-06-18T20:15:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T00:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=219349"},"modified":"2019-06-19T09:31:03","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T13:31:03","slug":"canadian-forces-investigating-after-soldier-dies-while-parachuting-in-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/18\/canadian-forces-investigating-after-soldier-dies-while-parachuting-in-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Forces investigating after soldier dies while parachuting in Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Bombardier Patrick Labrie, a member of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery based at 4th Canadian Division Support Base Petawawa, Ontario, has died as a result of his injuries during parachute training as part of Exercise SWIFT RESPONSE 19. (Photo<\/a>: Canadian Armed Forces\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 The Canadian Forces were searching for answers Tuesday after an Ontario-based soldier was killed during a parachute-training exercise in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

Bombardier Patrick Labrie, a soldier based out of CFB Petawawa, was confirmed by the Defence Department as having died from injuries sustained on Monday evening near the Bulgarian village of Cheshnegirovo.<\/p>\n

A six-year veteran of the Forces originally from Buckingham, Que., Labrie had recently returned from a deployment in Latvia and was in Bulgaria with a larger group of Canadians for the U.S.-led exercise known as Swift Response.<\/p>\n

Labrie was a member of the 2nd Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery and described by the unit’s commander, Lt.-Col. Dan Matheson, as a \u201cproud gunner\u201d who could \u201cfill a room with his presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matheson told reporters during a news conference in Petawawa that Labrie was a certified paratrooper who was participating in a jump at night from a Canadian aircraft with Canadian equipment.<\/p>\n

As for how Labrie died, Matheson said: \u201cThere is an investigation that’s ongoing. At this time, it’s not concluded so we do not have recommendations or conclusions.\u201d<\/p>\n

That investigation is being conducted by military police.<\/p>\n

Defence spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier confirmed a second Canadian soldier deployed as part of Swift Response was injured, but it was not during the parachute exercise, which involved a low-level jump at night.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military said two American soldiers were also injured during the same jump, but that they had parachuted from a separate plane.<\/p>\n

One was treated and released from hospital, said U.S. Army spokeswoman Beth Clemons, while the second was admitted for further evaluation.<\/p>\n

News of Labrie’s death sparked a wave of condolences from Canada’s political and military leadership, including from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians mourn today with the family and loved ones of the Canadian soldier killed in a training exercise in Bulgaria,\u201d Trudeau said in a Twitter post. \u201cBombardier Patrick Labrie’s brave service to our country will not be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaddened to learn of the death of a Canadian Armed Forces member in Exercise Swift Response in Bulgaria,\u201d Scheer said in his own Twitter message, adding: \u201cTo all members of the CAF, thank you for your service to Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gen. Jonathan Vance, Canada’s chief of the defence staff, and Canadian Army commander Lt.-Gen. Jean-Marc Lanthier similarly expressed their condolences to Labrie’s family and friends.<\/p>\n

Canada has about 100 soldiers participating in Swift Response, which involves troops from 10 different countries training together in different scenarios in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, with a particular focus on airborne exercises.<\/p>\n

\u2014with files from Kristy Kirkup<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 The Canadian Forces were searching for answers Tuesday after an Ontario-based soldier was killed during a parachute-training exercise …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":219353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,54365,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-instagram","category-news","mauthors-lee-berthiaume","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219354,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219349\/revisions\/219354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}