Nine-year-old boy dies after being pulled from snowbank in central Ontario

ORANGEVILLE, Ont. – A nine-year-old boy is dead after police say he was pulled from a snowbank in a central Ontario community.

Ontario Provincial Police Const. Paul Nancekivell (nance-kuh-VELL’) says officers responded to the incident near Orangeville, Ont., on Wednesday afternoon.

He says the boy was found in the snowbank, adding reports that it was a collapsed snow fort are unfounded.

The boy was rushed to hospital but succumbed to his injuries.

Nancekivell says the boy’s mother was on the scene and was taken to the hospital by police to be with her son.

He says police are still investigating the incident and do not want to speculate about what the boy was doing in the snowbank.

“We’re not sure whether it was a snow fort or not. There was a hole dug into the bank,” Nancekivell said.

A similar tragedy took place last month in Winnipeg where a nine-year-old boy was buried under a fallen snowbank outside his home. He died in hospital three days later.