Counsellors help students at B.C. school after student dies during field trip

SOOKE, B.C. – The Greater Victoria School District says counsellors will be at a local middle school to help students and staff deal with the death of a fellow student.

Superintendent Shelley Green posted a letter on the district's website Wednesday, advising that the district has deployed its critical incident response team to Lansdowne Middle School after a student died during a field trip.

Officials with the Otter Point Volunteer Fire Department, near the west coast Vancouver Island community of Sooke, say they responded to Camp Barnard on Wednesday afternoon for a report that a boy was trapped under a fallen tree.

A second person was taken to hospital in critical condition.

A spokesman for the B.C. Coroners Service confirms an investigation into the death is underway, but few other details are available.

Green's letter says the death of the unnamed youth "may raise certain emotions, concerns and questions for our entire school district, especially our students.

"At Lansdowne Middle School, we have counsellors available for any students and staff who may need and want help or any type of assistance surrounding this loss," Green writes.

More than 600 students in Grades 6 to 8 attend the school.

The Camp Barnard website says the roughly one-square-kilometre camp at Otter Point, just west of Sooke, offers wilderness camping and other programs for youths and adults.