It was a tragedy that could not have come at a worse time. A family in Coquitlam, B.C., is grieving the death of a young girl who died while playing in the snow at Christmas.
The four-year-old girl was sledding on a hill in her family's Westwood Plateau townhouse Wednesday when a pickup truck came around the corner and she was hit. She died shortly after in hospital.
Neighbours say it took paramedics 30 minutes to arrive at the scene of the incident, and they are left wondering whether the girl could have been saved if the emergency response had been quicker to react.
On Wednesday, ambulance services were dealing with a flurry of calls. They included a number of code 3 calls -- which are considered life threatening. Some of the callers had to be put on hold because there just weren't enough staff to handle the volume.
The national standard for emergency response calls is nine minutes, and on the best days, B.C. paramedics take 14 to 15 minutes to respond,
CTV has been told that this week's poor weather conditions prevented paramedics from getting to the scene any faster.
Just blocks away from where tragedy hit, families spent Christmas Day sledding down hills at a fenced-in park. They can't believe what happened to the little girl.
"It's horrible, it's terrible, especially on Christmas Eve,'' said Brian Martell, a Coquitlam resident.
"What can you do,'' Martell said. "She's just out to have fun and the driver doesn't know what's going on. That's why we like to come here and that way the kids are safe and there's no traffic, no cars running around."
Other Coquitlam residents were equally shocked.
"There are no words for that right? It's an eye opener for many young kids and families,'' said Aletha Low.
Even the more seasoned sledders can't believe what happened to the little girl
"That's pretty scary, being hit by a truck,'' said Jordan Wojcik.
With a report by CTV British Columbia's Reshmi Nair
